Salem World Beat 2009 Underway at Riverfront Park (VIDEO)

The Dragonboat races happen Sunday; this is one of Salem's top events each year.

(SALEM, Ore.) - Salem shows its best each summer at the World Beat Festival. It is possible that this may be one of the only ways to really sample the diversity of world culture in Salem, in a single place.

In fact it was during the summer of 2006, while covering the World Beat Festival, that I learned what Salem even means.

The word varies a bit depending upon the part of the world you happen to be visiting, but salem means 'peace' and I found that to be a nice piece of knowledge.

Later in 2006 I landed in Afghanistan to cover the war that winter, and I quickly learned that almost all Arab people greet one another by saying "Salam alaikum" which means "Peace be with you."

Peace and diversity are the operating words at this event. I caught up with Steve Lacey, former lead singer of the Catholic School Girls, a well-known Salem punk band, who was working as part of the World Beat crew, as the event's small stage manager.

In addition to being an amazingly talented musical performer, Steve is the closest living thing to MacGyver that you're likely to find, and I wasn't surprised that he was tapped to be the person making sure things happen the way they are supposed to.

Music after all, is probably one of the main draws at this unique event. Music from all over the world, music that teaches and soothes while often accompanying multi-cultural dancing.

Here are a few of the sights and sounds of this exciting summer festival, and my interview with Steve Lacey:

Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor.
Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines. Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), the first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several other awards including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website, affiliated with Google News and several other major search engines and news aggregators.
You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com

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g. parker June 28, 2009 6:07 am (Pacific time)

One of my favorite events in the past was the Folklife Festival in Seattle. I used to take my grandchildren there when they were small. It is wonderful to know that Oregon has such a wonderful event right in Salem. When we see the beauty of other cultures and learn to appreciate their dance, their music their culture and history we are on the road to peace. I really believe that had the people of the United States known the beauty,culture,art, the history and the sophistication of Iraq and it's people, it would have been impossible for the man who's name we don't utter to have lied and tricked the USA into war. I have a chilling photograph over my desk of 4 men from Kandahar holding a peace poster of the people of Yachats, Oregon. The local people formed their bodies into a heart shape with a peace symbol in the center and the ensuing photographs were dispersed to the world as a peace message. When one of these posters came back to me, with men in Kandahar holding the poster as they stood in front of a Shia religious painting, it gave me goose bumps. It was a real connection. Thereafter, I studied the meaning of the religious painting in the background. I know more of them. Now 6 years later, I wonder if any of the 4 are still alive. I hope so and I stil send peace and love to Kandajar. They are real people to me. We need to continue to connect with all of the worlds people in whatever way we can to activley promote peace.

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Salem World Beat 2009 Underway at Riverfront Park (VIDEO)

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