Global Jam to kick off International Week

Cameron Gorman

Students interested in music and culture will have the opportunity to listen to a “Global Jam” Tuesday, Nov. 14, as part of the Center for International and Intercultural Education’s International Week.

“Just to kick off International Week, we’re having this ‘Global Jams,’ which is just basically featuring music from around the world,” said Linda Robertson, the director of the Gerald H. Read Center for International and Intercultural Education in the College of Education, Health and Human Services. “It’s just meant to be a drop-in, enjoy-what-you-want-to (event). We have Himalayan music from the Nepalese refugees in Akron coming at noon, and then we have a ukulele club here on campus performing after that.”

Robertson said the Global Jam, which will also feature Saudi students in a quartet and an African dance group, will have a relaxed atmosphere. Students can even try jams and bread collected from around the world.

“Just almost in a coffee house sort of setting, with tables and comfortable chairs and that kind of thing,” Robertson said of the event. “We’ll just have music playing. You can enjoy a little treat and a cup of tea and come and go as you like. It’s just meant to be a really informal introduction in a nice way, on a busy, cold day, to just drop in and enjoy a little treat food-wise, but mostly food for the ears.”

The event is the first of International Week, which runs from Nov. 13-17 and includes a treasure sale to raise funds for the study abroad program, two documentary screenings and a reception for Fulbright students.

“We’ve never done this before,” Robertson said. “Every year, we do something for International Week, and we always vary it.”

Those interested in experiencing an international sampling of music can attend the event from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and again from 4:30-5:30 p.m. Tuesday in Room 200 of White Hall.

“It’s just being introduced to music from around the world and to just enjoy it in a really kind of casual way,” Robertson said. “(It isn’t) too much academic.”

Cameron Gorman is the humanities reporter. Contact her at [email protected].