"America at a Crossroads: Dissonance and Harmony: Arabic Music Goes West"

If you're interested in Middle Eastern music, you won't want to miss this telecast. Here's the show's description:

Since the attacks of September 11, the U.S. relationships with the countries of the Middle East have become increasingly strained and confusing. But citizens are not governments, and where governments are about politics, citizens are about culture. Where politics is often dedicated to objectives, spin and formality, culture goes deeper and defines real, everyday experience.

DISSONANCE AND HARMONY presents a rare portal into a vital and entertaining world shared by both Western and Middle Eastern cultures, the world of music. The film examines the struggles and successes of five very different Middle Eastern artists in their homelands and then tracks their experiences coming to the United States to the city of Los Angeles to collaborate with Western musicians.

Featured Middle Eastern musicians are: Saad El Soghayar (Egypt), Tareq Al Nassar (Jordan), Wael Kodeih (Lebanon), Tania Saleh (Lebanon), and Ilham Al Madfai (Iraq). Featured Western musicians are: Gustavo Santaolalla, the Academy Award-winning Argentinean musician and composer; RZA, the imaginative leader of the internationally celebrated Wu-Tang Clan; Nile Rodgers, a gifted guitarist-songwriter-producer and major influence on the U.S. music scene for over 30 years; and Charlotte Caffey, songwriter and guitarist from the renowned all-girl band, The GoGos.

For more information, visit http://www.pbs.org/weta/crossroads/about/show_dissonance.html.

For local show listings, visit http://www.pbs.org/weta/crossroads/when/