Hey guys, an important note! The term I used in the beginning of the video, “Jazz Propaganda” should be taken totally tongue-in-cheek as a joke and definitely not literally! With that in mind I wanted to make sure to say that… 1) Aberdeen was contracted to play gigs and conduct educational workshops. What you saw in the video was exactly what happened - we showed up, played, hung out, met people, rinse and repeat. We were there purely as ourselves as musicians, not as foreign service officers, despite the catchy title of “jazz ambassador.” We weren’t told what to say, we weren’t told what to play, and we certainly weren’t given an agenda to follow. We were there to play music and hopefully make a real and lasting personal connection with the people we met at played with. Just like any other show, except this time in two countries we would never have had the opportunity to play in otherwise. Put it this way. Tours cost money, money that’s hard to recoup, and it just didn’t make any financial sense for Aberdeen to tour Central Asia without backing. This tour was only possible because we had the government funding it. If people have problems with the government funding arts programs…that’s another discussion entirely, but this tour wouldn’t have happened without that funding. 2) The people we played with and met with in both Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia were absolutely amazing, and there are plans for future collaboration and recording. I now have a profoundly altered view on the value of music as a means of building community, and without this AMA program, the community wouldn’t have a chance to grow. I’m 100 percent behind public diplomacy arts programs like these. There are few things in the world that I think are purely good, and uniting musicians and people from different cultures is one of them. I was lucky to have done it, and hope to do it again.
I'm on the fence, you were still intentionally sent by the US government with the intention of promoting US culture abroad. That's sounds like imperialism lite to me. I think everyone should be able to enjoy & learn from all music, but using the words "America" and "foreign diplomacy" will inevitably make me think of propoganda and other historically bad things. If anyone has to do it though, I'm glad it was you Dadam.
This is correct. People all over the world in obscure places understand it and they love it. It really lands in places Americans probably have never heard of
I'm so happy that Adam actually made a video about it. The Aberdeens was amazing and they came to our school in Mongolia (Mongolian State Conservatory) and they actually taught jazz stuff. And i still can't believe i played with Adam Neely man
Supposedly you can have a legal Unicode name, but there are only generic quarter note, eight note, eighth tuple, 16th tuple, and a note cluster glyph, so you couldn't actually have a properly notated melody
Actually, not surprisingly, there's a big set of western music glyphs defined including quite a few I've never seen used. But still there's no way to position even one character vertically, let alone overlay arbitrary characters, so no actual music notation :(
30 seconds into the video and I see a man wearing a Vulfpeck sweater while playing "Careless Whisper" on top of a mountain in Kyrgyzstan, "Yeah, I think I'll keep watching"
Promoting American music in post-soviet central Asia using music derived from African rhythms played by a band named after a Scottish city in Europe. I think you got continental bingo
What about introducing and finishing the video with a lick from a song composed by a Englishman of Greek origin played on an instrument created by a belgian ? ;-)
Hey Adam, this is Daniel, we talked briefly today in front of the Bach Monument. Just wanted to express again how much I could relate to your experience in UB. I went in 2017 to see the mongolian nature but was thrilled to find out that the UB Jazz Club had live music and to encounter a great scene with many musicians, jazz, traditional mongolian, rap, you name it. I felt right at home there. Feels good to see that there is an exchange of ideas and feelings. Thanks for sharing your adventure in central asia with us! And also thanks to you and Mary for being so kind ;)
I love how we all know what it is he's writing down without even being able to see it. "That looks like 5 lines... is he writing music? Wait... it has to-... yep, it's definitely the lick."
Me: Adam hasn't put anything up in a few weeks. WTFFFFF. IS HE OKAY??? Adam: I worked for the US State Department as a jazz propagandist. Me: o.....Oooooh.
american gvt: let's promote american music cause they don't know khirgize people : we already only listen to bruno mars music ambassador: my mission is a success
something like "when information is abundant, attention is the real commodity." The goal was never to affect their spotify playlist, it was to influence how they view Americans. I think Adam Neely is a solid choice for that.
ADAM NEEDS A NETFLIX SHOW! Think about it, going around all over the world and analyzing music and culture from every country! Like Anthony Bourdain but with music! THINK ABOUT IT. #getadamneelyonnetflix
@@Benginator1 there was an earlier video adam did about a KNOWER reharmonization of a song by Nero, and one of the comments was "make sure your vocals are in the SAME key" which is a low-key meme in Adam videos
I played similar gigs for the equivalent 'British Council'. Over three years we travelled to Vietnam, Cambodia, Nigeria, Tunisia, Morocco, & Ethiopia. Usually the programme involved workshops in the day, & a gig in the evening. We invariably learn't more at these workshops than we taught. The US State Department has a long tradition of sending out jazz musicians across the world. My dad saw Ellington, Basie & Armstrong when they toured communist Yugoslavia in the late 1950's. Only a few years before that jazz was discouraged by the authorities there as being decadent. They switched that around to describing it as "the classical music of the African diaspora, suffering under the yoke of the oppressive & discriminatory capitalist system." (I paraphrase)... Following soon after these musical visits the state set up Jazz Big Bands in the Major cities, & put all the players on a living wage. Soon the standard was pretty high producing a few internationally known players by the mid 60's. The Yugoslav state press used the visits to highlight segregation, pointing out that the African American artists were free to stay in unsegregated hotels during their stay, & eat anywhere they wished.. A freedom not open to them in much of their home country at the time. So the propaganda worked both ways.
Having grown up in Xinjiang (western-western turkic China), this brings joy to my heart. Shoutout to Central Asia. PSA; Xinjiang, which has demographically more in common with Kyrgyzstan / Kazakhstan than it does with the rest of China, is currently facing mass cultural oppression of local ethnicities at the hands of the central Han-ethnocentric govt., including but not limited to the forceful internment of thousands.
Sergio yup. Mass internment been going on at least a year if not longer before the Coronavirus stuff kicked up and flooded the news cycle. No doubt it’s still going on. You can look up cases of reporters getting photo evidence of where the compounds are and verifying that it is a thing.
It’s really more like: USA: The World: YOU LIKE JAZZ?! It surprises me how much more love international musicians have for jazz than the average American does. The conglomeration of pop music can make it seem like pop is the USA’s main musical export at the moment but jazz has a much more unique and proper history pertaining to the country’s identity and a more meaningful art form. I wish most Americans were jazz enthusiasts, not just the musicians.
@@hirokokueh3541 my dad was actually i chengdu with his philharmonic orchestra. It was some kind of a large state-organised event with party officials (even mr Winnie the Pooh attended :v) where they would play concerts together with some chinese national orchestra as a kind of cultural exchange. But I agree-if it's not organised by the party (so it's not in its best interest) it's impossible to organise such thing
when the band got everyone to participate in "we'll be singing this song", I got chills. This video is the true embodiment of how Music can bring people together.
ahnaf ibrahim I know right!! I’ve been searching for any sort of recording of this song because it seems like it brings people together, and have had no luck
well done video as usual. I like how you distinguish music as not a universal language, but a lingua franca. also very interesting to see many ideas I'm working with all in one place, soft power (Nye's most famous concept), lingua franca, and Cold War era cultural politics.
How do you get away with being such an enormously inspirational human being every day? We crumble under the weight of imitating you. Please keep being who you are.
Adam, I am thrilled you got to experience this. I truly appreciate your recording this vlog to document the experience. This kind of diplomacy is a big part of the life and mission of a military musician stationed overseas. Many of my best and most enduring memories are from overseas tours with the US Navy.
If you're interested in the Mongolian throat singing, also be sure to check out the technique of Kargyraa; it's another traditional Mongolian method of singing in which performers will tense their throats while singing to produce pitches full octaves below their unadulterated singing voice. It's cool stuff, and some contemporary Mongolian musical groups (i.e. Huun-Huur-Tu as well as "The Hu") make really prominent use of it. Great video as always!
Small correction, Huun huur tu is really a Tuvan group, so part of Russia. It has a very similar culture to mongolia, but still, I am positive they have a unique language, etc, just to clear things up.
Hey Adam! Never commented on a video of yours before (and I don’t even know if you will see this) but this was truly incredible! Loved getting to witness you all participate in spreading peace and creating an experience of shared humanity. Truly beautiful stuff! You are such a positive voice on RUclips, you’re a great teacher, and you’ve got killer chops to boot. Thank you for your work and presence. I think I speak for many of us when I say that what you do is a gift and we are fortunate to have it. The teeny-tiny caveat I would offer to your wonderful tag at the end is that there is indeed a lot of music out there about creating community and shared humanity and not about individual expression of an artist - religious music. Various American religious traditions use music to bind people together via a common experience to participate in a common cause. I can only speak from traditions that I’ve participated in, but whether it be black gospel music, mega-church Pentecostal, or old Lutherans singing hymns - while the individual experience is certainly at play - the music being sung is (mostly) written with the intention of participation by the congregation in order to collectively encounter the divine, to then be sent out collectively into the world to participate in a greater cause. Historically speaking, we can think of African-American spirituals and protest songs sung during the civil rights movement. Those tunes and texts were birthed out of a communal experience of the divine and used to further the collective cause of civil rights. Obviously religious music can be used for ill or evil, (as can any form of music should the creator be of ill intent). All that to say, you are dope and what you do is dope and I merely offer my wee bit of experience to shade in the rest of the picture. Keep up the amazing work!
Lorenzo Visco it's not necessarily good or bad, just weird. I'm sure these counties aren't going to be going "The USA is now my greatest ally because they sent a band to play uptown funk in our country"
@@eatmeneat5035 no what it does is put the seed of a different way of live,in,these people..You can't say you hate the West as you sing a tune from Bruno Mars😎 the US doesn't underestimate the power of Music
Honestly, I get why these things exist but they feel weird to me. Jazz imperialist sums it up well for me. The US government should fund programs where other countries come to the USA to play their ethnic and cultural music as many people in USA are unaware of these kinds of music.
For anyone interested in modern mongolian music, there's an amazing band called The HU. Combination of traditional mongolian music and rock/metal. Well worth checking out.
@@aixide In the sense that neither Orchid nor GY!BE (both great picks, btw) are Jazz, Classical, or traditional Folk music, they're "popular music." Kinda two different definitions for what "pop" means. I'd say GY!BE are edging into Experimental or "Art Music," which would probably fall closer to the Modern Classical field than most Rock bands, but they're in general pretty unique.
I was deployed to Kyrgyzstan twice and each time helped bring in Air Force bands over. I recognize everything that Adam did because we had done the same years ago.
@@leosmithonbass - Really? When was this? We might know people in common. I was there in '07 when Max Impact came through and in '11 with Starlifter and Wild Blue Country.
"...I cannot wait to do something similar gain" - I loved to hear that because that video was awesome. Thanks for the great insight, Adam! Greetings from Germany.
This has made my day in more ways than you could imagine. It makes me so happy that I could cry. This gives me more motivation to continue my pursuit in becoming a better musician so that one day, I too can be called to action and represent what is so amazing about not only American music, but music in general to the rest of the world. Thank you Adam.
13:17 They are kyrgyz policemen. The word on their backs means "militia", which is what the police was called in the USSR. Also, here's a meme: Nobody: Adam Neely: I toured Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia with a band from the USA named after a Scottish city
Got to do a D.O.D tour like this in Singapore many years ago. Adam's right about how wonderful it is to be able to connect with different people and cultures through music. It's an amazing feeling. This is such a great video. Made my day! Thanks, Adam!!!
Hey Adam, this is one of your best posts by far (and I've been following your yt for a bit). Thanks for posting this, gives hope especially in today's quest for authentic living (in the large global scale).
Awesome video. Im glad to know the US is doing stuff like this with people like you guys. Also, this really made me appreciate how concise and well done you’re editing is more than ever.
Wow! What an awesome gig! I visited Kyrgyzstan (and the other 'Stans) way back in the 1990s. The mountains are crazy beautiful, and I can attest that everyone wants an autograph.
Music is nothing if not the bedrock for the road that connects people, their lives, their dreams, and their emotions. I enjoy all of your videos, but this was exceptional. Congratulations on getting to participate in such a great humanity-building program.
Man, I am not the sentimental kind of guy, yet, you almost brought me to tears of joy. I totally feel you and the joy you guys had of playing to all those people. Truly, one of the best jobs in the world. Congratulations!
@@Sk0lzky Even if you're not going for a Culture Victory, it's still a good idea to produce culture and send out your Great Musicians to stay culturally competitive, or you get ideologically bulldozed in the Modern Age.
I loved this! When I first heard Mongolian throat singing, my mind was opened to something new and special. It's through things like this we come to appreciate culture.
Adam, thank you sir...... to say I was feeling down tonight, is really a misnomer, and I find myself bereft of a proper descriptive. This helped to anchor me and brighten the mood, significantly.
Beautiful video Adam. The world is meeting you to enable you to do extraordinary things... Long may it continue, because you have so much to share. Thank you.
I currently work for the u.s. state department as a cultural ambassador in South Korea. Great work Adam, it's cool to positively spread American culture abroad! Keep it up! :)
I didn't know these programs still existed, but I am so happy that they still do. I am proud to have you and the rest of Aberdeen represent America to the world. You are great ambassadors. Sharing music is a wonderful thing to do, and in the midst of so much chaos and strife in the world, it is so nice to see something so genuinely warm and human. This was a truly touching video. Thanks so much for sharing your experience.
Hey guys, an important note! The term I used in the beginning of the video, “Jazz Propaganda” should be taken totally tongue-in-cheek as a joke and definitely not literally! With that in mind I wanted to make sure to say that…
1) Aberdeen was contracted to play gigs and conduct educational workshops. What you saw in the video was exactly what happened - we showed up, played, hung out, met people, rinse and repeat. We were there purely as ourselves as musicians, not as foreign service officers, despite the catchy title of “jazz ambassador.”
We weren’t told what to say, we weren’t told what to play, and we certainly weren’t given an agenda to follow. We were there to play music and hopefully make a real and lasting personal connection with the people we met at played with. Just like any other show, except this time in two countries we would never have had the opportunity to play in otherwise.
Put it this way. Tours cost money, money that’s hard to recoup, and it just didn’t make any financial sense for Aberdeen to tour Central Asia without backing. This tour was only possible because we had the government funding it.
If people have problems with the government funding arts programs…that’s another discussion entirely, but this tour wouldn’t have happened without that funding.
2) The people we played with and met with in both Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia were absolutely amazing, and there are plans for future collaboration and recording.
I now have a profoundly altered view on the value of music as a means of building community, and without this AMA program, the community wouldn’t have a chance to grow.
I’m 100 percent behind public diplomacy arts programs like these. There are few things in the world that I think are purely good, and uniting musicians and people from different cultures is one of them. I was lucky to have done it, and hope to do it again.
ok
I'm on the fence, you were still intentionally sent by the US government with the intention of promoting US culture abroad. That's sounds like imperialism lite to me.
I think everyone should be able to enjoy & learn from all music, but using the words "America" and "foreign diplomacy" will inevitably make me think of propoganda and other historically bad things.
If anyone has to do it though, I'm glad it was you Dadam.
@@CoryMck How is exposing people to foreign culture a bad thing?
@@Marcus001 using soft power to influence regime change is neo-colonialism af.
Congratulations Adam, you have prevented WW3 with your Uptown Funk diplomacy. America and the world thanks you!
"it's a lot cheaper to send musicians over the seas than soldiers." That was the phrase.
In more than one way, it costs less
Amen to that! 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
But it is totally accurate though.
🙏🏼❤️
not just cheaper but much better and wishable ^^
"Uptown Funk is the universal language."
~ Adam Neely, 2019
For white people, at least.
This is correct. People all over the world in obscure places understand it and they love it. It really lands in places Americans probably have never heard of
bum (clap) (cla-) bu- buum bum, bu- buum bum, bu- bum
I'm so happy that Adam actually made a video about it. The Aberdeens was amazing and they came to our school in Mongolia (Mongolian State Conservatory) and they actually taught jazz stuff. And i still can't believe i played with Adam Neely man
Primal Equinox Awesome! Sending you some jazz vibes from New York/New England!
That is awesome dude! Good luck in your music career!
Musical love from the UK
Wishing nothing but the best to you and your friends, courtesy of Canada.
What did they teach you? How to solo over Giant Steps in C.
The man formerly known as Adam Neely has changed his name to a piece music notation commonly known as "the lick".
"the artist formerly known as adam neely"
It's like the BACH motif (Bb A C B, German notation is strange) but more mainstream.
Supposedly you can have a legal Unicode name, but there are only generic quarter note, eight note, eighth tuple, 16th tuple, and a note cluster glyph, so you couldn't actually have a properly notated melody
Actually, not surprisingly, there's a big set of western music glyphs defined including quite a few I've never seen used. But still there's no way to position even one character vertically, let alone overlay arbitrary characters, so no actual music notation :(
30 seconds into the video and I see a man wearing a Vulfpeck sweater while playing "Careless Whisper" on top of a mountain in Kyrgyzstan, "Yeah, I think I'll keep watching"
Promoting American music in post-soviet central Asia using music derived from African rhythms played by a band named after a Scottish city in Europe.
I think you got continental bingo
All they need to do is say "Cunt" and be done with it
still missing oceania and antartica ig
What about introducing and finishing the video with a lick from a song composed by a Englishman of Greek origin played on an instrument created by a belgian ? ;-)
Kyrgystan isn't middle eastern thought. It's central asian.
Elliot Steeples Are you sure it referencing Aberdeen in Scotland?
Adam. I can't believe you missed the opportunity to say "Jambassador". Not even once. I'm not angry; just disappointed.
would the "bass" in Jambassador be pronounced like the instrument, too?
Also Jazzaganda. He did not even try did he?
More like bopaganda
Microlash YES
Amjazzador?
Sponsored by the US government to play the lick abroad as musical diplomat. Respect.
Hey Adam,
this is Daniel, we talked briefly today in front of the Bach Monument. Just wanted to express again how much I could relate to your experience in UB. I went in 2017 to see the mongolian nature but was thrilled to find out that the UB Jazz Club had live music and to encounter a great scene with many musicians, jazz, traditional mongolian, rap, you name it. I felt right at home there. Feels good to see that there is an exchange of ideas and feelings.
Thanks for sharing your adventure in central asia with us!
And also thanks to you and Mary for being so kind ;)
Leave it to Adam to "sign" a Real Book with the Lick
That was absolutely beautiful to watch.
@@coffeestainedwreck And the absolute geeking out of the guys :D
@@coffeestainedwreck i was the kid that got my real book signed it was a beautiful moment
@@ashidbt9164 yeah! me too
I love how we all know what it is he's writing down without even being able to see it. "That looks like 5 lines... is he writing music? Wait... it has to-... yep, it's definitely the lick."
Me: Adam hasn't put anything up in a few weeks. WTFFFFF. IS HE OKAY???
Adam: I worked for the US State Department as a jazz propagandist.
Me: o.....Oooooh.
Follow him on Instagram. He was constantly posting stories from all of these places
hahahahha sameee
no one:
adam: yo y'all you all heard of imperialism
OwU
1600’s: Christian missionaries
2000’s: LICK missionaries.
footage of adam neely playing illegal "liccs" in kyrgyzstan and mongola (coloured, 2019)
american gvt: let's promote american music cause they don't know
khirgize people : we already only listen to bruno mars
music ambassador: my mission is a success
@@oatenn-o french typo sorry ^^
@@oatenn-o Кыргыз*
something like "when information is abundant, attention is the real commodity." The goal was never to affect their spotify playlist, it was to influence how they view Americans. I think Adam Neely is a solid choice for that.
hahahahah
Adam's enthusiasm playing something as basic as Uptown Funk really highlights his love for music and education.
It's not all that basic. Overplayed perhaps
Judging by the reaction I bet you signed that dude's real book with the lick
when he started drawing straight lines i just knew
Halesnaxlors He did lol. You can hear one of the guys say “A, B, ... C” and then start flipping out
@@binder.u If you don't mind explaining, what's a 'real book' ?
ADAM NEEDS A NETFLIX SHOW!
Think about it, going around all over the world and analyzing music and culture from every country! Like Anthony Bourdain but with music!
THINK ABOUT IT.
#getadamneelyonnetflix
GET A DAMN EEL, YON NETFLIX!
Ok I'm starting a change.org petition
And here is said petition chng.it/JdWTwjmtNz
I would watch the shit out of this
that is actually a BRILLIANT idea. can't think of a better host than Adam either. this absolutely needs to happen!!!!
Playing Careless Whisper with a Vulfpeck T-shirt on...
The Shitposting of Jazz to Come would eat that alive
SeanFateStar NK you know it
I was wondering when I'd see a reference to the group in the comments
Wow! Cool! It was nice to meet you and play with you) nice experience) great people! Very interesting to look at it from your point of view)
9:47 Sax player placing a sneaky licc
Hope you enjoyed your trip! Amazing images
US just trying to lick all over Asia
Its 9:47
@@p_ineappl_e Thanks man, no idea why I missed the timestamp...
😂😂😂tru
What language do you speak?
UPTOWN FUNK.
2:47
protip: make sure your cultural identity uses the SAME economic system
Oh my god yes this was the funniest joke ever holy shit I love that format bro
I wish I got this joke but I don't get it
@@Benginator1 there was an earlier video adam did about a KNOWER reharmonization of a song by Nero, and one of the comments was "make sure your vocals are in the SAME key" which is a low-key meme in Adam videos
@Thedobeymaster Oh okay. Thanks!
@@Benginator1 At 15:42in this video, Adam's shirt even says "Protip: Make sure the synth and vocals are in the same key."
This video is fascinating as all adam neely videos are but WAS THAT A VULFPECK SHIRT?!
it's insane to think that vulf was getting promoted in Mongolia
Vulfpeck is everywhere. Vulfpeck is for the people. Also, it was on the long sleeve shirt of the guy playing careless whisper.
i regret to inform you that it does, in fact, get funkier 😔
I dont think so, it looked more like a jumper to me
@@ChunkyLover69420 unless a jumper is a long sleeve shirt/sweater then no mate it isnt i reckon.
I played similar gigs for the equivalent 'British Council'. Over three years we travelled to Vietnam, Cambodia, Nigeria, Tunisia, Morocco, & Ethiopia. Usually the programme involved workshops in the day, & a gig in the evening. We invariably learn't more at these workshops than we taught.
The US State Department has a long tradition of sending out jazz musicians across the world. My dad saw Ellington, Basie & Armstrong when they toured communist Yugoslavia in the late 1950's. Only a few years before that jazz was discouraged by the authorities there as being decadent. They switched that around to describing it as "the classical music of the African diaspora, suffering under the yoke of the oppressive & discriminatory capitalist system." (I paraphrase)... Following soon after these musical visits the state set up Jazz Big Bands in the Major cities, & put all the players on a living wage. Soon the standard was pretty high producing a few internationally known players by the mid 60's.
The Yugoslav state press used the visits to highlight segregation, pointing out that the African American artists were free to stay in unsegregated hotels during their stay, & eat anywhere they wished.. A freedom not open to them in much of their home country at the time. So the propaganda worked both ways.
zivkovicable thanks. Quite interesting.
Please tell me you played “A Night in Tunisia” in Tunisia
that's actually really damn interesting man
Having grown up in Xinjiang (western-western turkic China), this brings joy to my heart. Shoutout to Central Asia.
PSA; Xinjiang, which has demographically more in common with Kyrgyzstan / Kazakhstan than it does with the rest of China, is currently facing mass cultural oppression of local ethnicities at the hands of the central Han-ethnocentric govt., including but not limited to the forceful internment of thousands.
Sergio yup. Mass internment been going on at least a year if not longer before the Coronavirus stuff kicked up and flooded the news cycle. No doubt it’s still going on. You can look up cases of reporters getting photo evidence of where the compounds are and verifying that it is a thing.
Yeah... Unfortunately it is within China's territory so no one can forcefully stop them
"alot cheaper to send musician overseas than soldiers" - adam neely
Cheaper but (fortunately!) not nearly as effective as a means of wreaking havoc in other countries.
Musicians aren't quite as good at securing those oil wells though.
kim weldon imperialist bootlicker
@@brmordaz that just means they arent rocking hard enough
This was so cool and exciting to watch!! You never fail to add something extremely interesting to the musical discussion...!!
I totally agree!
the world:
USA: *YOU LIKE JAZZ??*
lmao
YA LIKE JASS??!?!
Post-USSR: *LOUD HARDBASS*
@Agnostic Imperialist Ultra Nationalist Of course Boogie Woogie is good
It’s really more like:
USA:
The World: YOU LIKE JAZZ?!
It surprises me how much more love international musicians have for jazz than the average American does.
The conglomeration of pop music can make it seem like pop is the USA’s main musical export at the moment but jazz has a much more unique and proper history pertaining to the country’s identity and a more meaningful art form. I wish most Americans were jazz enthusiasts, not just the musicians.
I had no idea this concept even existed. Amazing. The things you learn watching RUclips.
J.A. knows what's up
*watching adam neely's videos
This is incredible Adam!
Can we just replace 100% of US foreign actions with Jazz Diplomacy?
101st Airborne Jazz Improvizers
Carpet bombing with real books and donating saxophones instead of money to Vietnam :v
sadly, sometimes they can't enter those nations witch need jazz most, such as China.
YES PLEASE
@@hirokokueh3541 my dad was actually i chengdu with his philharmonic orchestra. It was some kind of a large state-organised event with party officials (even mr Winnie the Pooh attended :v) where they would play concerts together with some chinese national orchestra as a kind of cultural exchange. But I agree-if it's not organised by the party (so it's not in its best interest) it's impossible to organise such thing
Dude, you HAVE to put "Jazz Diplomat" on your business cards.
And do you get the custom license plates and tax breaks?
Adam Neely, Jambassador
At this point I don't think he needs a business card and Darwin will take care of anyone who doesn't already know him
i never thought my favorite music youtuber would be doing videos in Kyrgyzstan
12:56 the kid clapping the guitarist's hand exactly at the downbeat is satisfying to watch
best part of the video
9:46 I think that clip was chosen for a reason...
Just cant figure out what for...
The lick... (yes I am aware that he is aware of it)
If I heard Careless Whisper performed on the mountains my life would be complete lol
Well, you just heard it. :D
Such a beautiful video, Adam. Thanks for your hard work and love of music.
Hey! come to Kyrgyzstan you too! we would be grateful)
when the band got everyone to participate in "we'll be singing this song", I got chills.
This video is the true embodiment of how Music can bring people together.
ahnaf ibrahim I know right!! I’ve been searching for any sort of recording of this song because it seems like it brings people together, and have had no luck
@@lilly3705 yeah same. Might just have to piece together what I can from this video and make a cover haha
well done video as usual. I like how you distinguish music as not a universal language, but a lingua franca.
also very interesting to see many ideas I'm working with all in one place, soft power (Nye's most famous concept), lingua franca, and Cold War era cultural politics.
How do you get away with being such an enormously inspirational human being every day? We crumble under the weight of imitating you. Please keep being who you are.
ahahhahaha did you actually sign the books with the lick? Legendary!
I love how excited they all got
@@byebyecitybyebye I know, right :D super sweet :)
You couldn't see the actual page, but you could just tell...
10:04 sneaky licc this time but i noticed it anyway ;)
I just burst out laughing
Yeah
i missed it dang
I came here for this comment
But did you catch 6:38?
I’m not gonna be happen until I see jazztronuats
Oh you gonna be happen! I'm tell you!
Or you fire!
Sending jazz musicians into space to meet aliens, good plan
Cowboy bebop eh?
JAZZ ON THE MOON! (Sponsored by Amazon)
Adam, I am thrilled you got to experience this. I truly appreciate your recording this vlog to document the experience.
This kind of diplomacy is a big part of the life and mission of a military musician stationed overseas. Many of my best and most enduring memories are from overseas tours with the US Navy.
14:07 "am gonna cry", same dud same. I really love this kind of videos and experiences, thanks for sharing
>play a jazz song for US State Department
>popular song written and performed by a British songwriter
lol ikr
>yet ripped so many hooks (from african-americans) that he had to share songwriting credits with at least 8 other people.
Tactical Jazzpionage
that,s so funny
J A Z Z G E A R ?
Jazz...Jazz never changes....
Wow this was an amazing video.
That last bit with the sing-along gave me goosebumps.
If you're interested in the Mongolian throat singing, also be sure to check out the technique of Kargyraa; it's another traditional Mongolian method of singing in which performers will tense their throats while singing to produce pitches full octaves below their unadulterated singing voice. It's cool stuff, and some contemporary Mongolian musical groups (i.e. Huun-Huur-Tu as well as "The Hu") make really prominent use of it. Great video as always!
Small correction, Huun huur tu is really a Tuvan group, so part of Russia. It has a very similar culture to mongolia, but still, I am positive they have a unique language, etc, just to clear things up.
Hey Adam! Never commented on a video of yours before (and I don’t even know if you will see this) but this was truly incredible! Loved getting to witness you all participate in spreading peace and creating an experience of shared humanity. Truly beautiful stuff! You are such a positive voice on RUclips, you’re a great teacher, and you’ve got killer chops to boot. Thank you for your work and presence. I think I speak for many of us when I say that what you do is a gift and we are fortunate to have it.
The teeny-tiny caveat I would offer to your wonderful tag at the end is that there is indeed a lot of music out there about creating community and shared humanity and not about individual expression of an artist - religious music.
Various American religious traditions use music to bind people together via a common experience to participate in a common cause. I can only speak from traditions that I’ve participated in, but whether it be black gospel music, mega-church Pentecostal, or old Lutherans singing hymns - while the individual experience is certainly at play - the music being sung is (mostly) written with the intention of participation by the congregation in order to collectively encounter the divine, to then be sent out collectively into the world to participate in a greater cause.
Historically speaking, we can think of African-American spirituals and protest songs sung during the civil rights movement. Those tunes and texts were birthed out of a communal experience of the divine and used to further the collective cause of civil rights.
Obviously religious music can be used for ill or evil, (as can any form of music should the creator be of ill intent). All that to say, you are dope and what you do is dope and I merely offer my wee bit of experience to shade in the rest of the picture.
Keep up the amazing work!
11:22 CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTER
YOU HAVE SELECTED: BOUNCING BASS BOI
For some reason this comment is making me so happy :D
adam neely: jazz cultural imperialist
lol should that be a good thing?
Lorenzo Visco it's not necessarily good or bad, just weird. I'm sure these counties aren't going to be going "The USA is now my greatest ally because they sent a band to play uptown funk in our country"
@@eatmeneat5035 no what it does is put the seed of a different way of live,in,these people..You can't say you hate the West as you sing a tune from Bruno Mars😎 the US doesn't underestimate the power of Music
@@dong4176 you, in fact, can
Honestly, I get why these things exist but they feel weird to me. Jazz imperialist sums it up well for me. The US government should fund programs where other countries come to the USA to play their ethnic and cultural music as many people in USA are unaware of these kinds of music.
For anyone interested in modern mongolian music, there's an amazing band called The HU. Combination of traditional mongolian music and rock/metal. Well worth checking out.
The lyrics are quite specific, but the sound is great.
I prefer Hanggai and Sedaa, check them out if you don't know them. A bit more melodic and "raw" compared to the HU
Hey, nice to see you here. Usually see you clanking spoons and what not
“Uptown Funk is the universal language”
-Adam Neely
nice Mandelbrot-fractal
'We're here to promote American music!'
* plays British pop ballad *
crummyy It’s a pop song by George Michael. Not a smooth jazz tune
@crummyy Rock is still pop lol
@crummyy pop = popular music. Careless Whisper is obviously popular.
@@pedrogarcia8706 I mean, there is nothing pop about e.g. Godspeed! you black emperor, or Orchid. Rock can "be pop" is better I think.
@@aixide In the sense that neither Orchid nor GY!BE (both great picks, btw) are Jazz, Classical, or traditional Folk music, they're "popular music." Kinda two different definitions for what "pop" means. I'd say GY!BE are edging into Experimental or "Art Music," which would probably fall closer to the Modern Classical field than most Rock bands, but they're in general pretty unique.
10:15 Lol the entrance is pronounced "dram", not Adam, unfortunately
I noticed that too xD At least it looks right if you don't know the cyrillic alphabet...
Wouldn't even understand that that's what he thought if I didn't see your comment XD
Ah, must be for kaizo players then.
@@binder.u "Adam Neely's Drama Wardrobe", his own fashion and style show for his gigs or tours 😂😂😅😅
You did a very fine job on your people-to-people tour. A good choice for representing us here. Thank you!
The internet needs more igil and morin khuur content.
Such fantastic sounding instruments
This is my favourite video I've seen of yours. Very informative, thanks!
It's good to see you using that music degree for more than memes.
Wow Adam great job -- keep it up!
I was deployed to Kyrgyzstan twice and each time helped bring in Air Force bands over. I recognize everything that Adam did because we had done the same years ago.
I was in a US Air Force Band that twice visited Bishkek.
Adam's band is doing the deployment gig without the deployment part!
@@leosmithonbass - Really? When was this? We might know people in common. I was there in '07 when Max Impact came through and in '11 with Starlifter and Wild Blue Country.
"...I cannot wait to do something similar gain" - I loved to hear that because that video was awesome. Thanks for the great insight, Adam! Greetings from Germany.
adam signing a real book with the lick was the most epic moment in jazz history
Time stamp??
17:10
Beautiful, Adam. I'm tearing up. Thank you so much for sharing.
This has made my day in more ways than you could imagine. It makes me so happy that I could cry. This gives me more motivation to continue my pursuit in becoming a better musician so that one day, I too can be called to action and represent what is so amazing about not only American music, but music in general to the rest of the world. Thank you Adam.
13:17
They are kyrgyz policemen. The word on their backs means "militia", which is what the police was called in the USSR.
Also, here's a meme:
Nobody:
Adam Neely: I toured Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia with a band from the USA named after a Scottish city
Oh come on, they're the same as soldiers
@@dumpsterDeity well yes, but actually no.
The fact that Adam was signing a book at the outro by writing the lick on a staff and the guys were hyped af by it is so nice
Damn... Tear jerker of a video around 14:00 - Thanks so much for sharing this experience.
Got to do a D.O.D tour like this in Singapore many years ago. Adam's right about how wonderful it is to be able to connect with different people and cultures through music. It's an amazing feeling. This is such a great video. Made my day! Thanks, Adam!!!
Well I guess that explains where you went for the last couple weeks ahaha
This looks like it was an amazing trip tho holy moly
jayne here ? pog
I really enjoy your video's. They are always made with so much effort and love and you really see that back! Its almost a mini documentary+vlog. 🙃
As soon as you started drawing staff lines, I knew you were going to sign his realbook with the lick. Then they start laughing. LOL
Hey Adam, this is one of your best posts by far (and I've been following your yt for a bit). Thanks for posting this, gives hope especially in today's quest for authentic living (in the large global scale).
Awesome video. Im glad to know the US is doing stuff like this with people like you guys.
Also, this really made me appreciate how concise and well done you’re editing is more than ever.
Wow! What an awesome gig! I visited Kyrgyzstan (and the other 'Stans) way back in the 1990s. The mountains are crazy beautiful, and I can attest that everyone wants an autograph.
The Vulfpeck sweater is the only reason I'm here...
... OK fine your vids are awesome and the sweater was just a bonus. But Vulfpeck...
YESH I WAS SHOCKED
I worked for the State Dept. as an English teacher. I had a great experience, but also had so many mixed feelings about my role.
Please expand on your comment?
This was actually one of the best videos you have ever made. Sad that it isn't so popular.
Thank you Adam. Can't imagine a better use of time. It's actually very touching
Music is nothing if not the bedrock for the road that connects people, their lives, their dreams, and their emotions. I enjoy all of your videos, but this was exceptional. Congratulations on getting to participate in such a great humanity-building program.
I kinda wish Aberdeen will come to Indonesia and collaborating jazz with koplo music hahaha
awesome video by the way
Upvoted lol, it's gonna be a beautiful chaotic mess
Man, I am not the sentimental kind of guy, yet, you almost brought me to tears of joy.
I totally feel you and the joy you guys had of playing to all those people. Truly, one of the best jobs in the world.
Congratulations!
J A Z Z P R O P A G A N D A
*F U N D E D B Y T H E A M E R I C A N G O V E R N M E N T*
*fine print: Totally not about them oil wells
*_you are not immune to jazzaganda_*
Great video, thank you for sharing. It must have been an amazing experience and I do agree that it's important to have programs like these
Wow! That is just absolutely amazing!! Very inspiring! I really believe this ambassorship is something that should never be forgotten.
Nobody:
United States: our music lacks promotion, let's create a program for that
Correct usage of this template. Well done.
Good one
@@Sk0lzky Even if you're not going for a Culture Victory, it's still a good idea to produce culture and send out your Great Musicians to stay culturally competitive, or you get ideologically bulldozed in the Modern Age.
@@IncenseAgallochum They may not be Eleanor or Wilfrid Laurier, but at least they've got Rock Bands unlocked. ;)
0:20 look at him rocking the Vulfpeck sweatshirt!
when you have more musicians than you have great work slots in civ5
Get out
I loved this! When I first heard Mongolian throat singing, my mind was opened to something new and special. It's through things like this we come to appreciate culture.
Adam, thank you sir...... to say I was feeling down tonight, is really a misnomer, and I find myself bereft of a proper descriptive. This helped to anchor me and brighten the mood, significantly.
French people: "Louisse Amstrong"
Adam: "Loui Armstrong"
"The tune we were playing was called BKNY, Burger King, New York, where they thought we lived."
oh wow you really signed his real book with the lick
So cool. This video put a big smile on my face.
Beautiful video Adam. The world is meeting you to enable you to do extraordinary things... Long may it continue, because you have so much to share. Thank you.
I’m a simple man; Adam uploads, I click it instantly
cannon fodder
I currently work for the u.s. state department as a cultural ambassador in South Korea. Great work Adam, it's cool to positively spread American culture abroad! Keep it up! :)
Chris Orabutt fulbright?
@@jazzo44556 yup!
are the first fifteen seconds supposed to distract you from the fact adam got a government gig??
I didn't know these programs still existed, but I am so happy that they still do. I am proud to have you and the rest of Aberdeen represent America to the world. You are great ambassadors. Sharing music is a wonderful thing to do, and in the midst of so much chaos and strife in the world, it is so nice to see something so genuinely warm and human. This was a truly touching video. Thanks so much for sharing your experience.
This. This right here is why this is my current favorite channel on the RUclipss.