A truly inspirational and deeply emotional film about music and its inherent power to unite people. What had its humble origin in New York City as an idea of how captivating and entrancing music can be to the masses, the directors embarked on a musically spiritual journey.
Starting with a soulful guitar player in Santa Monica, California crooning, “Stand By Me”, which caught the directors attention, what would follow were many others singing the rest of the song. One year later, a musical mosaic was created, with harmony and peace being the links that bound them all together.
This empowering journey led them locales around the world, from New Orleans, to South Africa, to Tibet, to the Zuni Nation of the southwest, to the Zulu Nation as well as others. Each musician was charged with layering a single song over the previous artist thus building upon it. Over thirty musicians globally participated in this project and not one artist knew the other or came in contact initially.
Despite the cultural differences and diverse ideologies, what prevailed was the love and passion of the artist and their power to move their listeners. One thing is for sure, each one was connected to the other musically, so that in the end, truly there were no differences. Infused with power to unite, each musician had a story to tell, either songs
of freedom or songs reflecting the oneness of us all.
As a result of the resounding success of the movement for change, the Playing For Change Foundation was created to provide communities around the world resources that were needed. Through the universal language of music, arts centers have been constructed as centers for inspiration, substitutes for violence, and hubs for positive change.
The screening commanded a standing ovation and left all those who witnessed it, awe struck to the connectedness we’ve all had with a single vision in mind…peace.
The Playing for Change Foundation may be found at: www.playingforchange.com
Playing For Change film directors are Mark Johnson and Johnathan Walls.
*****
Weak: 1 Star Average: 2 Stars Good: 3 Stars Very Good: 4 Stars Excellent: 5 Stars