Ms. Taymor, a maverick artist known for her bold multicultural experiments with puppetry and ritualized theater, has her own distinctive vision, one that is miles away from standard Disney fare.

The multicultural experiment, despite the government's liberal immigration policies and lavish social services, has not gone well, and Mr. Buruma wants to find out why.

In March 2009, it was discovered that the song was used on the website of the British National Party as the soundtrack of an article describing "the violence, hatred, fragmentation and despair" wrought on London by the "great multicultural experiment".

The Netherlands has suffered enough, and continues to suffer, from mass immigration and the failed multicultural experiment.

The director, Julie Taymor, best known for her bold multicultural experiments with puppetry and ritualized theater, has abandoned none of the transporting, often surreal visual flourishes that are her signature.

"No country in Europe could be more proud of its multicultural experiment than Britain," the privately-funded Institute of Race Relations' director, A. Sivanandan, said in a posting on the organization's Web site (www.irr.org.uk).