0:00 [Music]

0:03 It’s my honor to raise the curtain on Center Stage, the State Department’s newest cultural diplomacy initiative.

0:10 [Music and clapping]

0:15 This is probably one of the most ground-breaking sort of musical exchange happening, musical program happening

0:22 between Pakistan and America because up until now, no Pakistanis have come in this manner.

0:30 Noori’s been around for around 10 years. We have managed to get some success in our country.

0:37 And our sound is basically rock, and our lyrics are mostly driven about social change

0:46 and responsibility toward your country and responsibility toward yourself. We don’t write sappy love songs.

0:53 We write songs about the youth, and we tell them that they can change the world if they believe in themselves.

0:58 [Music]

1:00 My name is Arieb Azhar and I’m here with my, with a part of my ensemble.

1:06 For all four of us, it’s the first time in the U.S. None of us has been in the U.S. before.

1:10 I’ve traveled a lot around Europe and so on but never in America.

1:12 And so far, the only America we know of is through the movies, through books, and through the news and politics.

1:20 But for me, America is also home of the blues and it’s also home of Bob Dylan and, you know, the whole 60’s rock movement

1:30 which all of us have been inspired by as musicians.

1:33 [Music]

1:40 Music and art always spreads across man-made borders and connects human beings

1:46 as we were originally meant to be, as God made us. And this is what this project has brought about.

1:52 [Applause]