Sufi music, truck art and traffic jams were just a few of the lively topics shared by Pakistani singer/songwriter duo, Zeb & Haniya, when they met with two classes of Carroll College Alpha Seminar freshmen on Tuesday morning.

Cousins Zeb Bangash and Haniya Aslam shared photos, music videos and their personal stories with about 45 students as part of a series of talks they are giving in Helena prior to their 7:30 p.m. Thursday concert at the Myrna Loy Center.

The cultural exchange is part of a national Center Stage tour, an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

And it would be hard to find a more charming pair of cultural ambassadors than the two cousins who have been performing music together since they were 6.

Now 34, each with a college degree from a U.S. campus in New England, they’ve returned to the United States with musicians, drummer and percussionist Kami Paul and singer/songwriter guitarist Hamza Jafri.

Their main message, Bangash said, is they want to share Pakistan’s cultural richness and diversity, and of course, music.

As may be expected, their music doesn’t fall into neat categories — it’s been called everything from world music, to ethnic blues, to folk rock, to pop fusion, said Aslam.

And they’ve been singing and spreading their message across the country from Madison, Wis.’s, world music Festival earlier in September to New Mexico’s Globalquerque fest, to Akron, Ohio, and Washington, D.C..

Their music has taken them on tours across the United States, Europe and Asia, said Bangash, who was the main presenter on Tuesday. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, she is the lead vocalist in their band.

Zeb & Haniya are wildly popular back in Pakistan, where they still reside. They released one album, “Chup!” in 2008, which featured some of Pakistani’s hottest musicians and are in the process of recording a second album, yet to be named.

Love of music is something they grew up with — hearing a diverse array from Bollywood film hits, to folk music, to British and U.S. rock, as well as a rich array of live music.

Aslam, a guitarist, gravitated to the sounds of the blues while a student at Smith College in Massachusetts.

They welcomed it and many other sounds into their music making. Singing in Farsi, Turkish, Pashto and English, the duo’s created original songs and re-interpreted tunes from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia.

Their version of a Dari folk love song, “Bibi Sanam Janem” for Coke Studio has scored more than 2 million YouTube hits.

Love of verse is common in Pakistan. Their grandmother Jamsheda Begum wrote poetry and used to recite verses or make them up as she went about such household tasks as cutting vegetables.

Even big, tough truck drivers sport beautiful lines of poetry or even sentimental love couplets on the back of their ornately decorated trucks.

Each vehicle is an intricate work of wheeled art proclaiming the truck’s name — often “Princess” — as well as proclaiming its personality and colorful journeys.

“It’s part of an old folk tradition,” Bangash explained. “Prestige was attached to travelers. Travelers were knowledgeable of the world.”

“Every single truck is decorated with fantastic pictures” — everything from romantic houses on the American prairie, to Pakistani film stars, peacocks and flowers.

“It’s all reflective and really psychedelic,” she added.

“Pakistan is very influenced by the miniature tradition,” she said, referring to ancient miniature artworks. “We’re very proud of our visual culture.”

Honored to be citizen diplomats, they invited students to be open and ask them about anything and not be embarrassed.

In response to one student’s question, Aslam said, “I’ve never worn a burqa. There are all sorts of lifestyles in Pakistan.”

“The burqa is worn by choice,” added musician Jafri.

Both Bangash and Aslam assert that any challenges they face as Pakistani musicians haven’t been gender-based, but are just the struggles musicians face in any country.

“We have always gotten a positive response,” said Bangash. “We’ve always been respected.”

“This program is a very positive approach,” concluded Bangash at the end of her talk. It’s about breaking down misperceptions and understandings.

“Perceptions only change … (when) people meet people. One person can shatter former perceptions.”