U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken embraced the creative soul of Muddy Waters on Wednesday to help launch a global initiative to elevate music as a diplomatic tool, picking up a guitar and singing the American blues legend’s iconic ‘Hoochie Coochie Man’ at the state department.
The Global Music Diplomacy Initiative aims to support the U.S.’ broader foreign policy goals, noted a fact sheet ahead of the event.
The plan also aims to leverage public-private partnerships to create a music ecosystem that expands “economic equity and the creative economy, ensures societal opportunity and inclusion, and increases access to education.”
To that end Blinken thought of nobody better suited to the task than himself.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken performs onstage during the launch of the Global Music Diplomacy Initiative at the U.S. Department of State on September 27, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
Playing rhythm guitar to a house band and turning his usually soft-spoken voice to a lower-set warble, Blinken offered his rendition to cheering subordinates at the department.
“I couldn’t pass up tonight’s opportunity to combine music and diplomacy. Was a pleasure to launch @StateDept’s new Global Music Diplomacy Initiative,” the singing diplomat wrote on ‘X’ formerly Twitter on Thursday.
Blinken also shared a video of him performing center-stage.
I couldn’t pass up tonight’s opportunity to combine music and diplomacy. Was a pleasure to launch @StateDept’s new Global Music Diplomacy Initiative. pic.twitter.com/6MUfTXO9xK
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) September 28, 2023
America’s top diplomat took center stage after after performances in the department’s formal reception room by the likes of jazz icon Herbie Hancock, Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters fame, and rising young pop singer Gayle.
As part of Blinken’s new initiative, AFP reports Hancock will travel to Jordan on the anniversary of a 1963 tour by jazz pianist Duke Ellington.
He will also pay a first-of-its-kind trip to Saudi Arabia, a strict Islamic state that has only recently begun opening to public music performances.
The Philadelphia Orchestra will head to China in November to mark 50 years since its first tour to the Asian country in 1973 — then largely closed to the world and winding down the Cultural Revolution.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken enjoys the spotlight during the launch of the Global Music Diplomacy Initiative. (Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
The initiative will also see U.S. rappers heading to Nigeria to discuss using music to address conflict.
“For generations, U.S. diplomacy has worked to harness the power of music to actually build bridges, to foster collaboration between Americans and people around the world,” Blinken said in a pre-performance address.
“You don’t have to know any history to connect the feelings behind the music because music at its core is about a bond rooted in our shared humanity,” he said.