It'll All Be Okay: Playing for Change and "Don't Worry"

Today's random song is performed by Playing for Change, a project to connect the world through music. Created by American producer and sound engineer Mark Johnson, the project records musicians around the world each playing one element of each of the songs they record. The producers then build, layer by layer, the song by melding the recorded parts, each with the individual interpretations of the musicians involved. They have since developed the Playing for Change Band which tours, and they have built the Playing for Change Foundation, which funds the construction of music and art schools around the world. This song, Don't Worry, can be found on Playing For Change's 2009 album Songs Around the World. The list of musicians and places where they were recorded on this tune is extensive and are listed in the video. The song is the very first Playing for Change original song - they had previously concentrated on covers of well known songs.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playing_for_Change

When the Night Goes Down: Playing for Change and "Stand by Me"

Today's random song is a classic called Stand by Me. It is performed by Playing for Change, a project to connect the world through music. Created by American producer and sound engineer Mark Johnson, the project records musicians around the world each playing one element of each of the songs they record. The producers then build, layer by layer, the song by melding the recorded parts, each with the individual interpretations of the musicians involved. They have since developed the Playing for Change Band which tours, and they have built the Playing for Change Foundation, which funds the construction of music and art schools around the world. Stand by Me can be found on Playing For Change's 2009 album Songs Around the World. The list of musicians and places where they were recorded on this tune is extensive and are listed in the video.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playing_for_Change

Getting Together: Playing for Change and "One Love"

One Love, a reggae tune made famous by Bob Marley, is our random tune for today. It is performed by Playing for Change, a project to connect the world through music. Created by American producer and sound engineer Mark Johnson, the project records musicians around the world each playing one element of each of the songs they record. The producers then build, layer by layer, the song by melding the recorded parts, each with the individual interpretations of the musicians involved. They have since developed the Playing for Change Band which tours, and they have built the Playing for Change Foundation, which funds the construction of music and art schools around the world. One Love can be found on Playing For Change's 2009 album Songs Around the World. The list of musicians on this tune is extensive, and includes Roberto Luti (Italy), Menyatso Nathole (South Africa), Manu Chao (France), Surrendra Shrestha (Nepal), Tula (Israel), Vusi Mahlasela (South Africa), Mermans Kenkosenki (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Sinamuva (South Africa), Martin Machapa (South Africa), The Oneness Choir (India), The Exile Brothers (India), William Aura (Nepal), Luis Mhlanga (Zimbabwe), Junior Kissangwa Mbouta (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Tara Bir Tuladhar (Nepal), Keb' Mo (United States).

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Worldwide Protest: Playing for Change and "Biko"

Today's random song is by Playing for Change, a project to connect the world through music. Created by American producer and sound engineer Mark Johnson, the project records musicians around the world each playing one element of each of the songs they record. The producers then build, layer by layer, the song by melding the recorded parts, each with the individual interpretations of the musicians involved. They have since developed the Playing for Change Band which tours, and they have built the Playing for Change Foundation, which funds the construction of music and art schools around the world. This song, Biko, is a protest song originally recorded by Peter Gabriel. It can be found on Playing For Change's 2009 album Songs Around the World.

Changing for the Better: Playing for Change with Keb' Mo' and "Better Man"

A special musical project called Playing for Change brings us our song for today, called Better Man. The main performer in this song is three-time Grammy winning blues musician Keb' Mo'. Keb' Mo' (Kevin Moore) was involved from the beginning with Playing for Change, which is a project to connect the world through music. Created by American producer and sound engineer Mark Johnson, the project records street musicians around the world playing one element of each of the songs they record. They then build, layer by layer, the song by melding the recorded parts, each with the individual interpretations of the musicians involved. They have since developed the Playing for Change touring band, and they have built the Playing for Change Foundation, which funds the construction of music and art schools around the world. Better Man can be found on Playing For Change's 2009 CD Songs Around the World.

It'll Be All Right: Playing for Change and "Don't Worry"

Today's song, Don't Worry, is by a special project called Playing for Change, which is a project to connect the world through music. Created by American producer and sound engineer Mark Johnson, the project records street musicians around the world playing one element of each of the songs they record. They then build, layer by layer, the song by melding the recorded parts, each with the individual interpretations of the musicians involved. They have since developed the Playing for Change touring band, and they have built the Playing for Change Foundation, which funds the construction of music and art schools around the world. In this video, you'll see the contributions of a variety of musicians recorded on the street in their respective countries including: Pierre Minetti (France), Junior Kissangwa Mbouta (The Congo), Dinesh Sunam (Nepal), Venkat (India), Clarence Bekker (the Netherlands), Tula (Israel), Washboard Chaz (New Orleans), Django Degen (Spain), Grandpa Elliot (New Orleans), Sinamuva (South Africa), Rajhesh Vaidhya (India), and Tenzin Jigme (India). Don't Worry can be found on Playing For Change's 2009 CD Songs Around the World.

It Ain't Just Chump Change: Playing for Change and "Gimme Shelter"

I've spent the better portion of my life now trying to get a handle on this elusive term "community." When I graduated from college, I joined a volunteer organization whose four pillars were community, social justice, spirituality and simple lifestyle. I lived in a community of people, all of us doing work in inner-city Milwaukee with not-for-profit organizations, and we tried to build community. In that case, community meant pooling our resources, collaborating with each other, sharing common duties, and above all listening and interacting with each other in a shared vision. I did this for two years, and I realized that community is hard. First of all, community is based around consensus, and it is very difficult to reach a consensus once you get past two people. Either someone is going to obstruct because they don't get what they want, or someone is going to roll over to appease everyone and be secretly angry that they didn't get what they wanted. Since then, I've tried to modify what community means. Can one be in a community while living apart from people? We call our neighborhoods, our towns, even our cities "community" but when you add numbers, it seems to me that elements of true community go away. I'm still trying to find a happy medium because I think that ultimately, a real community could bring me a lot of happiness but, it has to be something less than living with people and getting stuck with their bathroom mess, and something more than just a cluster of buildings together.

One description of the Playing for Change project is that it is building a world community through music, and certainly it has some of those aspects of community. It has a collaborative vision, it has brings together diverse people, and the product that results is an intermingling of many talents. It also probably has to have some top-down organization - I'm not sure a consensus was reached on the songs that they play. However, even if it isn't a community in the strictest sense of the word, I think I can live with it because man, do I like the music and I love the concept.  And I really love this cover of The Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter.

Playing for Change is project to connect the world through music. Created by American producer and sound engineer Mark Johnson, the project records musicians around the world playing one element of each of the songs they record. They then build, layer by layer, the song by melding the recorded parts, each with the individual interpretations of the musicians involved. They have since developed the Playing for Change Band which tours, and they have built the Playing for Change Foundation, which funds the construction of music and art schools around the world. In this video, you'll see the contributions of a variety of musicians recorded in their countries including:

Greg Ellis (United States)Venkat (India)Roberto Luti (Italy)
Washboard Chaz (United States)
Roselyn Williams (Jamaica)
A.S. Ram (India)
Sidney Santos (Brazil)
Tamika McClellan (United States)
Mamady Ba Camara (Mali)
Massamba Diop (Senegal)
Sherieta Lewis (Jamaica)
Courtney "Bam" Diedrick (Jamaica)
Sean "Pow" Diedrick (Jamaica)
Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars (Sierra Leone)
Seenu M. (India)
Taj Mahal (United States)
Andrae Carter (Jamaica)
Char (Japan)

You can find Gimme Shelter on the album PFC 2: Songs Around the World (2011) - it is a CD and DVD combo.  Playing for Change's version is dedicated to all the lost, homeless and forgotten people in the world.