Sounds of Cyprus is a project by Peter Douskalis, with Elena Christou, Renos Efthymiou and Alex Tasopoulos, that unites the Greek and Turkish languages and lyrics in the traditional folk music of Cyprus. The message of the Sounds of Cyprus project is of bridging and integrating communities for social justice and progress through musical unity and harmony. The song performed in this talk is ‘Tillirkotissa-Dillirga’ and is their original arrangement.

Peter Douskalis spoke at TEDxHerndon 2016 about Systematic Inequality in Education and advocated change through music. In this year’s speech, he brought his group in order to demonstrate the importance of the multicultural curriculum development he previously spoke about and demonstrated the implementation of intercultural music.

Peter Douskalis is a musician and educator that performs and records professionally as well as teaches music in the New York City Department of Education. He is author of the Hal Leonard Essential Elements for Guitar series book ‘Multicultural Songs’. He has published his philosophy on the multicultural music education curriculum design in the 30th World Conference Proceedings of the International Society for Music Education (ISME) and has further presented his philosophies at TEDxHerndon and the 32nd ISME World Conference. He currently performs in New York City, primarily working as assistant director and guitarist for Pericles Kanaris and Synolon. He was also previously the President of the New York City Chapter of the charity ‘Guitars Not Guns’ and also currently partakes in Olympism For Humanity Alliance, Inc. projects. His solo jazz guitar CD ‘The Dance of the Sea’ has received national and international acclaim in Just Jazz Guitar Magazine, Los Angeles Jazz Scene, Jazz Journal (UK), and Cadence Magazine.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx