The Power of Music Diplomacy: a “Rock Diplomacy” Experiment in Argentina 2007-09, by Earl Anthony Wayne
I was genuinely delighted when Secretary Tony Blinken launched the State Department’s Global Music Initiative in September 2023. I love music and appreciate its power to bring people together, and I believe U.S. public diplomacy too often has not used well America’s massive soft power flowing from popular music.
I learned to appreciate music from my upbringing. My mom taught voice and piano in our living room in a lower middle-class San Francisco suburb. She regularly organized young people to experience and participate in musical events from opera, symphony, and ballet to musicals that many local young people thought were reserved for wealthier parts of our communities.
My mom found ways for music to open new horizons. I not only grew up listening to the lessons at home most afternoons and evenings but also “being taken” to musical events on the weekends, meeting musicians from around the world, participating in choral groups, and even being an extra in a couple of opera performances!
I went on to love (and sing) rock and roll and related genres, but I always remembered the way that my mom used music to bond different generations and social classes. When I had the opportunity to share music as a diplomat, I took it.
Recently, the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training asked me to write up the experiment in “rock diplomacy” that we undertook in embassy Buenos Aires when I was Ambassador in 2007-2009. We drew upon the mutual love of “rock” (and other popular) music between Argentines and Americans to help build bonds and overcome deep anti-American sentiment in Argentina at that time.
We took advantage of the tremendous popularity of American music among Argentines, the willingness of visiting U.S. musicians to partner with us to embrace local youth, and the bonding powers of music to help move beyond differences and open space for dialogue. Music became one important facilitating tool in work to achieve our embassy’s public diplomacy objectives, and I got a nickname as a “rock ambassador,” which Secretary Clinton used when swearing me in as ambassador to Mexico in 2011.
Music, of course, has long been interwoven with public diplomacy, from the well-known jazz connections during the initial decades of the Cold War through the rock and pop music that helped break down East-West barriers as the Iron Curtain cracked and crumbled.
From my perspective as a diplomat, however, the U.S. did not take full advantage of the popularity of American music around the world and especially with young people. Our public diplomacy programs did not use well popular American music and artists to better connect with youth audiences. I thought music could build a good foundation for having other conversations about shared civil values, for example. Of course, U.S. embassy public diplomacy staff and budgets were very limited, and the PD agendas were big, but I had the hunch that many U.S. artists would be happy to partner with embassies to build bridges, as I had seen many musicians do generously as I grew up.
Rock diplomacy in Argentina 2007-2009
I was thus more than grateful when I had the opportunity as U.S. Ambassador to Argentina to draw on U.S. music’s soft power to help overcome the strong and widespread anti-American sentiment I encountered.
When I arrived in Buenos Aires in late 2006, Argentina registered the highest levels of anti-Americanism in the Western Hemisphere, higher than in Venezuela.
The war in Iraq and the U.S. president were very unpopular. Argentina’s government was close to Venezuelan Leader Hugo Chavez and his “Bolivarian,” anti-imperialist philosophy. They saw him as a partner to provide funds to boost Argentine economic recovery. Indeed, many Argentines felt that the U.S. had not provided sufficient economic support in the early 2000s, leaving Argentina to suffer a terrible economic recession whose scars were still deep. It would be fair to say that U.S.-Argentine relations were testy, and that the embassy and I had major work pending to improve America’s image in Argentina.
I began to reach out to government officials to establish good personal relations and to identify areas where we could more easily build cooperation, such as in countering drug trafficking. But I also set out with my team to identify ways to alter the negative popular views of the U.S. We concluded that we could likely not alter perceptions of the war in Iraq, for example, but Argentines and Americans shared many values and an appreciation of culture and education. These were areas where we might be able to make progress in improving America’s image and building solid partnerships with civil society in the process.
We started constructing more active relationships with student and university groups, with those supporting press freedom, with U.S. companies that carried out social responsibility programs locally, with NGOs fighting for good causes such as stopping the trafficking in persons and spousal abuse, with youth sports groups, and with others.
In a sense, we put public diplomacy at the heart of our embassy work, and I instructed all sections to coordinate with the PD section to identify outreach activities that could improve the U.S. image. The first meeting I held every morning was with the PD section leaders and a few other counselors. We looked for opportunities and activities that could show the more positive sides of U.S. values and commonalities between Argentina and the U.S. For example, with any news of new scholarship, sports, or other awards involving travel to the U.S., we would invite the recipients or groups for a quick meeting, even if it happened to be when they were getting their visas at the embassy. [Photo: Argentine young people getting visas to travel to the U.S. for spring vacation, enjoyed a concert by a young Argentine band, Infierno 18, and a visit of an up-and-coming U.S. band in front of the Embassy.]. We looked for individuals, NGOs, and companies doing laudable activities with whom we might partner. We combined busy “in-person” outreach with very active sharing with Argentina’s lively media -- at that time TV, radio, and print outlets. Though we did not yet have a social media to spread the word, we started the practice of sending out regular press notices about embassy and my activities, often along with photos. We were pleased that many outlets picked up and carried brief reports. This kind of outreach made progress during 2007, reflected in a growing network of partners, but we kept looking for additional ways to engage with Argentines, especially younger audiences.
A strategy is born
In the fall of 2007, Argentine President Nestor Kirchner invited Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez once again to visit Buenos Aires as part of Kirchner’s regular outreach to this “Bolivarian” leader. He organized an anti-Imperialist (U.S.) rally at a soccer stadium in the evening of Chavez’s visit to which the government bused in thousands of Argentines to hear Chavez. And each participant was given 50 pesos and a free beer and sandwich to go to the rally, the media reported.
The evening of that rally I started to develop an inspired idea about the power of rock and roll to bring Argentines and Americans together. As I arrived home to my residence from an event, the streets were packed with Argentines. I asked a member of my federal police escort why so many people, crowds, were walking in the streets. It turned out that down the road from the Ambassador’s residence at the stadium of the “River” soccer club there was a reunion rock and roll concert by a famous Argentine group named Soda Stereo that was sold out. Soda Stereo was a mega-hit band in Argentina and all Latin America in the 1990s. It had not played together for 10 years but was making a reunion tour. I later found out that the crowds headed to that reunion concert were much bigger than the crowd that the government had bused in to hear Chavez.
That evening and the next day, I thought about this. Whenever I was driven around Buenos Aires, my driver would play local radio stations filled with American rock and roll as well as with Argentine rock music. I had learned that Argentines had their own homegrown rock that was/is excellent (in addition to tango), but they loved American music too and knew many of the same songs that I knew by heart. And I'd seen during my first months in Buenos Aires many advertisements for different American groups coming to BA and filling stadiums and concert halls.
I reached the conclusion that we might be able to build on the fact that many in both countries loved similar types of music to help improve the perceived image of America.
My Foreign Service National employees and my U.S. PD team at the embassy confirmed that the love of rock and roll (and the popular music still evolving from in related genres) was very popular in Argentina. So, I sat down with our PD team and invited volunteer Argentine and U.S. employees to have "blue sky" discussion of what might be possible. We developed the broad concept of reaching out to American rock and roll groups and pop performers when they were scheduled to perform in Argentina and asking them about cooperating with us to organize some type of outreach to and with Argentine young people.
We thought about potentially working with Argentine charities and schools that helped young people, with young Argentine aspiring musicians, and with groups which supported less privileged Argentine young people who could not afford a concert ticket. We could see that there were many potential target audiences for this kind of activity and that it could attract a positive buzz about the U.S. and the embassy, if done well. But it would take a lot of work beyond what the PD section could to on its own.
We invited Embassy employees to work on this project on a volunteer basis along with great stalwarts from the public diplomacy section. We found many employees, American and Argentine, eager to help. Employees in the public affairs section would reach out to promoters and to groups supporting youth, music schools, etc., as well as to MTV and local rock music broadcasters. The volunteers would then help organize and staff various events and opportunities to bring Argentines and U.S. musicians together. The PD section set about to develop and get approval for guidelines on how we could handle any cooperation or partnerships respecting ethics guidelines and about how to properly manage any participation by minors in these events.
As we moved ahead, we found out that many U.S. musicians and groups were open to participating in this kind of outreach with the Argentine public and youth in between their concerts. Our PD section and embassy volunteers started to learn how to develop opportunities to do programs along these lines.
We had already begun to explore some work with well-known figures in support of our initial embassy outreach activities, such as embassy efforts to strengthening Argentina’s efforts to fight trafficking in people, especially girls and women and specifically to pass a first-ever federal anti-trafficking law. The PD section had arranged a meeting with Ricky Martin during his concert in Argentina because we learned that he had established a foundation to counter trafficking. We used the meeting to pursue the anti-trafficking public diplomacy theme that we were championing at the embassy.
Regarding music diplomacy, we worked over months to build a network of partnerships with promoters, music schools, and musicians. Overtime, we also learned that it would make sense to get to know and where possible and beneficial work with local music groups (including Soda Stereo), because that would show our appreciation of Argentine creativity.
Our embassy volunteers and staff highlighted when Argentine music groups were getting visas to perform in the U.S. (the relatively famous and the up-and-coming). We started to arrange meetings and photos with them, often at the embassy, to highlight the music bridges between Argentina and the U.S.
And the music begins
We also received positive responses from U.S. groups coming to Argentina. When the well-known rock group Toto came to town, for example, it agreed to have a workshop for young Argentine musicians at my residence. The Black-Eyed Peas invited a group of underprivileged youth to attend its concert and met with them afterwards. [Photo: Well known California band The Black-Eyed Peas receives a group of Argentine youth from poorer family backgrounds after its concert in Buenos Aires in March 2007.] The Backstreet Boys met with a group of girls (chaperoned) from a local government-run home for teens and preteens in need. Cindi Lauper invited high school Argentine girls from a local program for youth in need, who my DCM escorted to her concert, to come on the stage as she sang “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”! 
I especially recall when Kiss came to town: they agreed to meet with me and a group of young people and embassy family members before their concert at River stadium. This became a personally memorable event. I had the chance to talk with the group ahead of the concert, and the musicians were interested in a serious talk! As I looked up at them in their white and black make-up with their three-inch platform heels, the group’s leaders Gene Simons and Paul Stanley asked me about our music program, anti-Americanism, and Argentine foreign policy and governance. They were interested in why Argentina was so critical of the U.S. and why the politics were so polarized. I was surprised, but we had a good conversation for five to ten minutes on these topics. [Photo: The band Kiss poses with Embassy families and staff at their River Stadium concert.]The public diplomacy section and our embassy volunteers worked very hard to go further than private conversations and incorporated this outreach into our media outreach and our PD activities as a valuable tool for reaching out to young people. The PD section took advantage of an existing U.S. program, for example, to invite Ozomatli, a multi-ethnic group from Los Angeles, to do a program in the Buenos Aires area, which we highly publicized. The group played with the Buenos Aires city youth orchestra. They visited a drug rehabilitation center, sharing their own stories of drug abuse and rehabilitation, as well as playing some music for the young people. They played with Argentine tango musicians at a nightclub, and they gave an excellent concert, which generated much buzz when the musicians went into the crowd to play. They gave a private concert and talks with Argentine students at my residence. The embassy received good media coverage.
Music, changing conversations
As our embassy became more active around concerts and music shows, some of the rock music radio and TV stations began to interview me at the concerts. I'd tell them about our outreach based on the idea that music could help build bridges between Argentines and Americans.
At first, one of the most popular TV music journalists would interview me and broadcast it with pictures of U.S. planes bombing Iraq in the background. Despite any critical questions he asked, I would emphasize that our peoples share a love for music and the creativity that it represents. I would stress my belief that that shared love for music could builds bridges between cultures and help overcome differences, and how I had seen the power of music to do that growing up in a home where my mom, a music teacher and singer, often brought young people together with musicians. I would underscore that Argentina and the U.S. both had very creative societies and that there was much more that we should be able to do together than remain mutually critical. I argued that we can cherish the good that we each have in each society.
Over time, several of the music journalists started changing their narrative, and they didn't put the Iraq pictures behind me anymore. There were more and more opportunities to talk about the things that we shared between the two societies in a friendly atmosphere.
As the embassy’s music diplomacy progressed, the music team also came up with ideas for doing events on the front Portico of the embassy so people in the neighborhood and waiting for visa interviews could hear the rock groups playing. When Argentine rock groups that were going to go to the United States came in to get their visas, we said ask them to meet for a conversation in my office and then follow up with opportunities play a couple songs at the embassy too, if that seemed appropriate.
When a well-known Argentine group named Los Fabulosos Cadillacs were heading out to play in the U.S., for example, we took a photo with them around my official Cadillac in front of the embassy.
We organized a big event where young Argentine and American “up and coming” rock groups both played in front of the embassy for several hundred Argentine high school students getting visas so they could fly to Florida for vacation. The students loved it, and the ambiance was great.
Another time, we invited a well-known Argentine group named La Mosca to play for a group of Argentines with special needs in front of the embassy. [Photo: The concert in progress.]We organized an event for one of the few Argentine pop singers of African heritage at the embassy along with others to help draw attention to Black History Month and the serious challenges faced by the few Argentines of African heritage.
And it is important to note that we did not leave out other types of music – the famous (young) violinist Joshua Bell did a workshop for young Argentine musicians in my residence, for example. (My mom had been an opera singer, a classical piano artist, and an opera voice coach.) We also sponsored meetings and events with respected jazz musicians like Ornette Coleman and Bela Fleck, for example.
This turned into a “thing” over the two years or so that we tried to do more regarding popular youth music. I concluded, along with my team, that it was very effective as an additional tool for outreach and should be a part of broader cultural diplomacy by embassies. It was very nice to see this bear fruit and help our overall effort to improve America’s image in Argentina. At different times when I would be going to a concert as part of this effort, young people would get out, "Hey ambassador, hi!" They would recognize me from the music TV shows, I guess. And, so you know, I'd go up and say hi. I'd shake their hands. We'd have simple conversations about music. It was a whole different kind of human interaction than the criticism often leveled at me and the embassy because of Iraq and other U.S. actions and policies or that Ambassadors usually have. The conversations were especially enjoyable!
…and softening hostility
This music diplomacy, combined with our embassy’s many other outreach efforts, underscored to me that U.S. soft power could successfully help soften critical views of America. Beyond music, we continued energetic efforts to work with educational institutions and groups, with civil society NGOs championing good causes and civic values, with businesses carrying out social responsibility programs, and via sports diplomacy (from a visit by world famous U.S. ice skater to soccer/football and baseball exchanges). We also championed the importance of a free press in the face of government pressure on the media, and much more.
Our efforts to track views of the U.S. embassy in local polls also showed that public Argentine views of the embassy improved during these years. Music diplomacy helped generate an atmosphere where there was less animosity and more willingness to discuss the values that our two nations shared. Music was an important facilitator for progress against anti-American sentiment.
For my farewell, the embassy staff organize a surprise rock concert at the embassy for all the staff with two Argentine bands playing (who we had met and supported when they made their first tours to the U.S.). It was a wonderful send-off before heading to Kabul!
As my departure neared, we shared our lessons learned from our music diplomacy and the other outreach efforts with NGOs, educational institutions, the media, etc., with Washington and other embassies. We did not get much positive reaction from our colleagues at that time, but I subsequently pursued similar efforts with success during my years as Ambassador to Mexico (2011-15) – that is another story.
I trust you can understand why I am especially very pleased that Secretary of State Tony Blinken launched the U.S. Music Diplomacy Initiative in September 2023 as a formal part of America’s public diplomacy. Importantly, Secretary Blinken and his State Department team are putting energy and drive into this pillar of U.S. public and cultural diplomacy..This includes energetic programs of Global Music Ambassadors supported by a new partnership with YouTube, and related music programs such as “One Beat,” “Next Level,” and “Center Stage,” among others.
The focus on the soft power that music represents can help reach to many audiences including music-loving youth. And beyond the Washington-led programs, our experience in Argentina highlights that U.S. embassies have their own roles to play building partnerships locally that can be valuable in local country settings. I am sure the music diplomacy initiative is and will continue build many bridges of enjoyment and mutual appreciation with other countries.
Anthony Wayne is a PDCA member and Diplomat in Residence at American University’s School of International Service. A Career Ambassador, Wayne is a Public Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.