If you like the sounds of the islands, Panoramic is playing the fifth annual World Music Festival at 6:45 p.m. today in Chicago The festival will take place at the Randolph Cafe in the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.

Panoramic pays tribute to its Caribbean heritage while integrating its musical experiences in jazz and classical music.

Calypso, Latin and Indian are just some of the cultural influences on Panoramic. Some of Panoramic’s members also are members of the NIU percussion/steelpan faculty and students.

Liam Teague, Robert Chappell and Orlando Cotto are members of the band and are also NIU faculty. Also featured in the band are NIU alumnus Doug Stone, and NIU students Phil Beale and Josh Ramos.

“It’s a great honor to perform at the World Music Fest,” Teague said, “and also because the steelpan is from my home country Trinidad and Tobago.”

Teague said the music that Panoramic plays couldn’t be classified. He said their music is a fusion of so many things that there would only be one way to categorize it.

“World music is the only way I can describe the sound,” he said. The fest began Wednesday and will run through Sunday. This event is free to attend.

Arab-American writer to speak today at Reavis Hall

Diana Abu-Jaber, an Arab-American who writes about experiences living in two different cultures, will speak about her latest book “Crescent” at 4:30 p.m. today at Reavis Hall, Room 211.

Andrew Sidle, a member of the Graduate Student Association, said Abu-Jaber was born to a Jordanian father and an American mother. When she was 2 years old, her family moved to Jordan, where they stayed for two years.

Abu-Jaber’s novel “Crescent” is about Iraqi-Americans living in America.

An article in the Washington Report about Middle Eastern Affairs said the book probably will help convince Americans to have fewer hostile feelings toward people of Arabian descent, Sidle said.

Abu-Jaber has a Ph.D. from the University of New York and teaches at the University of Miami in Florida.

“She’s a great writer,” Sidle said.

An earlier novel of Abu-Jaber’s, “Arabian Jazz,” also was critically acclaimed. Sidle said the book takes a humorous look at a first-generation Arab-American family trying balance the American lifestyle with their cultural traditions.