Ambassador
Ambassador's Speech
REMARKS BY AMBASSADOR WAYNE AT LATIN JAZZ CONCERT
April 26, 2007
33rd International Book Fair of Buenos Aires
La Rural
Thank you for being here this evening to help us celebrate “USA Day” at the 33rd Annual Buenos Aires Book Fair. As part of our celebration, we are proud to be hosting a special performance of Latin Jazz by the Alejandro Aviles Quartet. We are very fortunate that Alejandro and his band members were able to be with us in Buenos Aires for the Fair.
I also wanted to give special thanks to Horacio Garcia, President of the Fundacion El Libro, Carlos Alberto Pazos, the Foundation’s Vice President, and Marta Diaz, Fair Coordinator, for their magnificent work and organizational skills in putting together such an impressive event and in particular, in helping us get ready to participate for the first time in 15 years. Your advice and wise counsel have been deeply appreciated.
Lastly, I wanted to thank our sponsors American Express, Cargill, Citibank, Distal, Ford, General Motors, International Doorway, Turner Broadcasting, and Luigi Bosca for their great support in helping to give our presence at the Fair such dynamic visibility and prominence.
“American” music is a mixture – or to use a fashionable word – “fusion” - of the musical traditions of peoples who went to the United States from all corners of the world. Jazz, for example, emerged in the American South from the African-American experience and soon held sway around the world. In the U.S., jazz has not remained static, but rather has continued to evolve, especially as the U.S. absorbed other immigrant experiences and other musical styles.
The United States today is the 5th largest Spanish-speaking country in the world! It is inevitable that Latin culture would influence jazz, and tonight we will have the great pleasure to listen to what has come to be called, appropriately enough, Latin Jazz, as practiced by Alejandro Aviles and his band.
We are delighted that they are here and look forward to sharing with you the wonderful diversity of the United States and the music that it has created.