Playing for Change

Playing for Change is quite simply, amazing. It’s a beautiful, timely and effective way to deliver the message of change through song… Grammy-award winning producer/engineer and PFC co-founder founder Mark Johnson explains: “For the past four years, a small crew has traveled the world with recording equipment and cameras in search of inspiration and human connections,” Johnson explains. “The result is a movement connecting the world through music.”

And the movement is growing…Playing for Change has just released the fourth Song Around The World video ‘War No More Trouble’ from the CD/DVD Playing For Change: Songs Around The World…the first three songs: “Stand By Me,” “One Love” and “Don’t Worry,” have garnered millions of views on YouTube and “War No More Trouble” is nearing 600,000 views…

“War No More Trouble” was performed by musicians around the world-including Bono- adding their part to the song as it traveled the globe: “The act of playing music with people of different cultures, religions, economics, and politics is a powerful statement,” Johnson said in a press release. “It shows that we can find ways of working together and sharing our experiences with one another in a positive way. Music has the power to break down the walls between cultures, to raise the level of human understanding.”

Below is an excerpt from a recent article that ran in the Huffington Post explaining how PFC came to fruition…

His truly big idea began when he heard two monks playing in a New York subway. They were surrounded by about two hundred morning commuters who chose listening to the pair than arriving at work on time. The producer recalls, “It occurred to me that here is a group of people that would normally run by each other, but instead, they’re coming together. And it’s the music that brought them together.” Johnson then began recording little known musicians from around the world, dubbing the process “Playing For Change,” it implying both busking and trying to propagate evolution. Eventually, he and his team visited everywhere from New Orleans to the Himalayas, South Africa to Jerusalem and beyond in his quest to capture the essence of regular people making heartfelt music, that being the universal condition that links musicians, vocalists and the message in all parts of the world. Filmed under the sun or streetlights, doorways, parks, plazas, on cobblestone streets or hilly regions, and employing innovative, state of the art equipment and techniques, these collaborations took place hundreds to thousands of miles apart, and has become the standard process.

“The Playing For Change movement has a timely connection with the ‘Change’ movement of President Obama in that they are both driven by humanity, inspiration, and the desire to create a better world,” explains Johnson, “Change for the love of everyone, change for the good of everyone, change that will make everything all right.”

Playing for Change has both a Website and a Foundation website, where of course, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the CD benefit worthy causes including AIDS charities in Africa. Check ‘em out and join the movement….please.

As always, thanks for reading. Delinda@athlebrities.com