WASHINGTON — In a first for American diplomacy, a U.S. diplomat performed on the inaugural season of Pakistan Idol in April.
Phillip Assis, the Cultural Affairs Officer at the U.S. consulate in Karachi, sang on stage on national television during the Pakistan Idol semifinals last month, performing alongside the semifinalists.
“They had never had a foreigner on,” Assis, who goes by the stage name Phillip Nelson when he’s performing, said in a phone interview from Pakistan. “It was exciting to be on an authentic Idol show.”
Pakistan had its first official version of the Idol franchise this year. The embassy reached out and said, “We have a real live singer here if you’re interested in having an American on the show,” Assis said. A few months after the initial contact, Assis was booked to perform.
Assis, 48, a native of Portland, Oregon, has been singing and playing the piano all his life and “always had a passion for bringing people together culturally and forming bridges between cultures,” he said. He was diagnosed with cancer after graduating from Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies in 1996, an experience he credits with making him realize that “tomorrow’s never guaranteed, and I always dreamed of doing more with my music, and that spurred me on.”
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