US Embassy Dhaka hosts hip-hop workshop

Starting from August 25, and running till September 1, the Embassy of the United States of America, in partnership with American Voices—a US cultural diplomacy organisation—hosted a delegation of four award-winning American hip-hop artists to lead a series of trainings for 54 up and coming Bangladeshi hip-hop stars.  

The workshop event took place at the Edward M. Kennedy Center for Public Service and the Arts, and the overall programme was finally concluded with a musical showcase at Shilpakala Academy on September 1—featuring performances from the 54 talented Bangladeshi artists and the four American instructors as well. In attendance at the closing ceremonies was US Ambassador, Peter Haas.

Launched in 2007, the Youth Excellence on Stage (YES) Academy serves as American Voices' flagship cultural diplomacy program aimed at providing high-quality training in some of America's greatest cultural artistic genres, such as hip-hop and breakdance, for youth around the world.  

This year marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the United States and Bangladesh.  To celebrate 50 years of friendship, the YES Academy provided Bangladeshi youth with an opportunity to learn and collaborate with American instructors in music production, rap, and breakdance.  The YES Academy workshops featured Dangerflow band member and MC Angel award-winning hip-hop DJ, Carl 'DJ Invisible' Hollier; international b-boy champion Alex 'BBoy El Nino' Diaz; and two-time finalist of NBC's "The SingOff," Richie 'Robot' Steighner.