African-American music has a soul of many colors

The prize-winning violinist Gao Can is an unlikely poster child for the US observation of Black History Month, but the occasion has him grinning from ear to ear.

As we chat, we're hours away from a special concert hosted by the US Embassy. It will be the first Black History Month I've attended where the faces are mostly Chinese.

Gao, a co-founder of the Beijing New Music Ensemble who spends part of the year on a fellowship at the University of Cincinnati, tells me that's beside the point.