PREVIEW: Playing For Change in Park City, UT

Monday August 08, 2011

From The Park Record

Musicians Playing to Change the World
By: Scott Iwasaki*

Playing for Change is more than a band.

It’s a multi-media concept that promotes peace and unity, said Mark Johnson, co-founder of the Playing for Change film documentaries.

“The initial goal for the project was how do we find something that will inspire the world to come together,” Johnson told The Park Record. “On a planet with so many divisions, we needed something positive to unite all of us. The answer, of course, was in music.”

So a core international band percussionist Mohammed Alidu (Northern Ghana), vocalist Clarence Bekker (Netherlands/Suriname), harpist Grandpa Elliott (New Orleans), percussionist Mermans Kenkosenki (DRC Congo), guitarist Jason Tamba (DRC Congo) and vocalist Titi Tsira (Gugulethu African township on the Western Cape) was formed to serve as a vehicle to take the music to countries around the world.

Johnson, a filmmaker and Grammy Award-winning producer, known for his work with Paul Simon and the Notorious B.I.G., and his production crew followed the musicians and made mini documentary films of the performances. At each stop, local musicians were filmed playing songs and posted onto the Internet, which created a way for people from the United States and other countries see the different instruments played in the context of their originating communities, while creating a new world music.

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Higher Ground	4:46	Playing For Change
Redemption Song	4:10	Playing For Change
Stand By Me	6:04	Playing For Change

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