Playing for Change
by Katie Price (Journalism/Music Industry), published June 9th 2010
Bringing Back the Voice in Music
In the wake of the campaign for change, it seems as if the power of the message has already begun to slip away from many. Inspiring speeches and rallies have been replaced by reality, and the meaning of hope and change may soon be forgotten. However one man refuses to let this happen. Mark Johnson, producer and co-director of Playing For Change: Peace Through Music, has created an organization that believes in the power of music to unify.
A foundation that provides resources such as facilities, supplies, and educational programs to musicians and communities around the world, Playing for Change has already built the Mehlo Arts Center in Johannesburg, South Africa and others in Nepal and India. To build awareness of the transformative power of music and to raise money for their efforts, Mark Johnson created documentaries dedicated to connecting the world through music.
The idea was spawned when Johnson, a grammy-winning producer, was traveling to his NYC recording studio. He explains, ‘I was on the way to studio one day and there were two monks, painted entirely in white wearing only robes, in the subway station. I just noticed that most people on their way to work run by each other in the subway, but this day there were about 200 people just stopped…crying and others with jaws dropping and it occurred to me that here in this slosh, there were all these different groups coming together because of the music. I felt like there was this unity that existed between people that would otherwise run by each other and the music made it all happen. So when I finally got into the studio, it occurred to me that some of the best music I ever heard was on the way to the studio.’
Taking his equipment on road and running on batteries, Johnson spent ten years traveling around the world in dangerous and unfamiliar countries, a task any ordinary person would assume too daunting. But the director truly believed in the cause: ‘The truth is, early on in the project, I start seeing that things like this feed themselves. So much of life is just showing up for something you believe in and it rewards you. I would hear such amazing music and meet such incredible people, that there was no way of giving up. It was never an option.’
Specifically, the film brings together soulful street musicians from around the world ‘ blues singers in a waterlogged New Orleans, chamber groups in Moscow, a South African choir ‘ to collaborate on songs familiar and new, in the effort to foster a fresh, greater understanding of our commonality. Johnson and his crew traveled around the globe and recorded tracks for such classics as “Stand By Me” and Bob Marley’s “One Love”, creating a mixes in which the performers are all playing in unison, but in reality are worlds apart. Johnson found musicians on street corners or in small clubs and they would in turn gather their friends and colleagues ‘ in all, they recorded over 100 musicians from Tibet to Zimbabwe.
Despite the cultural differences and diverse ideologies, what prevailed was the love and passion of each artist and their power to move their listeners’an aspect of music too often forgotten on the college scene. It seems as if today’s average student is focused on meaningless singles like ‘Right Round’ or ‘Marco Polo,’ and has lost sight on finding what’s real through music. Says Johnson, ‘There is no greater hope that I would have in the world (than for students to turn towards music with meaning). Because what people say in the music and its purpose will dictate how much people are affected by it. So if people aren’t singing about anything important, then they’re missing the opportunity that music offers them.’
One thing is for sure: each musician featured in Johnson’s documentary had a story to tell, either songs of freedom or songs reflecting the oneness of us all. They were connected to each other musically, so that in the end, truly there were no differences. Says Johnson, ‘Music is the easiest way to connect one person’s heart to another. Language often divides people and so many different ways of finding our identity divide us’different religions, different economics, different politics. I think music is one way that gets us back to the heart of being part of the human race.’
Johnson’s message is quite similar to that of the recent political movement in that they are both driven by humanity, inspiration, and the desire to create a better world. The original idea of Playing for Change was to unite all different countries, races, gender, economics, religion, and politics all through music. Johnson affirms, ‘The election has done that all over the world by uniting all different types of people that ordinarily may not come together and giving them something to believe in. Change for the love of everyone, change for the good of everyone, and change that will make everything all right.’