If all it took to achieve world peace were artists from cultures in conflict making beautiful music together, then hostilities would surely cease at this month's Hamsa Festival. Here, a stellar lineup of musicians absorbs the intricate rhythms and chordings of different traditions and transposes them to a higher key. For instance, the Israeli composer, violinist, and oud player Yair Dalal inflects his threnodies with sounds from Iraq, the Balkans, India, and Israel. For Hamsa, he is collaborating with the Palestinian oudist Naser Musa to write two pieces – which they will then perform alongside the Chicago Classical Oriental Ensemble. They’re joined by Pharaoh’s Daughter, and East Coast groove band of Pan-Mediterranean sensibility that swirls through Hasidie chants and Sephardie folk-rock, infusing it all with a darker indie pop tincture. Throw in the local harmonica whiz Howard Levy, Alberto Mizrahi (the Jewish Pavaroti), emcee Harold Bamis, even more musicians – plus dancers – and you’ve got the makings of a sonic peace summit Hamsa (the Arabic word for five; it’s also used by Jews to describe the symbol of a hando with an eye in it) was the inspiration of Dr. Wendy Sternberg (shown), an internist who teaches at Northwestern University Medical School. She wanted to find a place where cultures in conflict could interact with amity. That place, she thought, was in the arts. Hence Hamsa, a bazaar of music and dance that allows people to cross cultural borders with impunity. You’ll find the festival in Lincoln Park, just south of the Farm in the Zoo. Just look for the tent and the rented camel.

-Gale Kappe