Playing For Change Deluxe Edition...

Playing For Change: Songs Around The World – Deluxe Edition, featuring the award-winning, previously unavailable full-length documentary film Peace Through Music will be released by Playing For Change Records/Concord Music Group on October 13th. This special two-disc package includes a 10 track “Songs Around the World” audio CD plus DVD containing the 84 minute documentary as well as 2 bonus chapters: “The Filmmakers’ Journey” (a 15-minute behind the scenes featurette consisting of interviews with project executive producer Norman Lear, directors Mark Johnson and Jonathan Walls along with several other key members of the Playing For Change initiative) and “The Playing For Change Foundation,” focusing on the enlightening and inspiring work of the project’s remarkable non-profit organization.

With its stirring call for reconciliation and cross-cultural unification, the global music collaboration/multi-media project, Playing For Change has struck a deep and powerful chord world-wide. “Playing For Change is an exploration into the human spirit,” stated founder and film co-director/producer Mark Johnson. “It demonstrates the power of music to unite us as a human race.” “The project brings an insight into humanity,“ adds co-director Jonathan Walls. “It’s my wish that audiences around the world absorb this musical essence and become inspired to participate and celebrate its manifestation.”

A co-production of Timeless Media and Engine 7 Films, Playing For Change: Peace Through Music, is a story of hope, struggle, perseverance and joy. The version included here contains an additional 26 minutes of never-before-seen narration and performance, with scenes filmed in Nepal, India, New Mexico and Barcelona. The filmmakers traveled the globe with a single minded passion: to connect the world through music. Their ambitious journey took them through a myriad of cultures and visually stunning locations including post-apartheid South Africa, the ancient sites and conflicted regions of the Middle East, the remote beauty of the Himalayas and beyond. Using innovative mobile technology, the Playing For Change crew filmed and recorded more than 100 musicians, largely outdoors, in parks, plazas and promenades, in doorways, on cobblestone streets and amid hilly pueblos. The film, broadcast nationally on PBS this summer, spawned the intensely emotional video clip “Stand By Me,” featuring 37 musicians from around the world including now famous Grandpa Elliott, Roger Ridley and Clarence Bekker. It has been viewed by more than 30 million people to date on sites like YouTube and Vimeo sparking the global Playing For Change movement, one of 2009’s most unlikely and inspiring cultural phenomena.

The Playing For Change tour will stop at The Ark in Ann Arbor on November 2nd.

Pre-Order Playing For Change Now

Upcoming U.S. tour dates:
10/20 Washington, D.C. @ The Birchmere
10/22 Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theater
10/23 Northampton, MA @ Calvin Theater
10/24 Albany, NY @ Empire Center at the Egg
10/25 New York, NY @ Town Hall
10/27 Philadelphia, PA @ Keswick Theater
10/29 Annapolis, MD @ Ram’s Head on Stage
10/30 Cleveland, OH @ Masonic Auditorium
10/31 Toronto, Canada @ Phoenix Concert Hall
11/02 Ann Arbor, MI @ The Ark
11/03 Chicago, IL @ Park West
11/04 Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theater
11/06 Minneapolis, MN @ O’Shaughnessy
11/07 Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theatre
11/08 Denver, CO @ Paramount Theatre
11/09 Santa Fe, NM @ Lensic Performing Arts Center
11/12 Mesa, AZ @ Mesa Arts Center
11/13 Los Angeles, CA @ Club Nokia
11/14 Anaheim, CA @ The Grove of Anaheim
11/15 San Francisco, CA @ Palace of Fine Arts
11/17 Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theatre
11/18 Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre
11/19 Vancouver, British Columbia @ Commodore Ballroom

A Little Change Will Do You Good...

After a series of shows that generated rave reviews in Los Angeles, New Orleans and the U.K., it was announced that Playing For Change will launch a national concert tour. The fall tour will bring the Playing For Change movement to over 20 cities nationwide. The Playing For Change band features musicians from around the globe, many of whom appeared in the now ubiquitous "Stand By Me" video (which has been viewed on the internet more than 30 million times) including New Orleans based blues singer Grandpa Elliott and soul singer Clarence Bekker from Amsterdam.

Grammy-winning producer/engineer/filmmaker Mark Johnson founded Playing For Change on the simple idea that the world can be connected through music. Starting in Santa Monica, California, Mark captured a performance of “Stand By Me” by legendary street blues singer Roger Ridley, then he took the show on the road. In New Orleans, he put headphones on Grandpa Elliott, who harmonized with Ridley’s soulful rendition of the song. And he didn’t stop there. Using innovative mobile technology and travelling the world, they filmed and recorded more than 100 musicians, largely outdoors, in parks, plazas and promenades, in doorways, on cobblestone streets and amid hilly pueblos. Each captured performance created a new mix in which essentially the artists are all performing together, albeit hundreds or thousands of miles apart.

Tour Dates
10/20 Alexandria, VA @ The Birchmere
10/22 Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theater
10/23 Northampton, MA @ Calvin Theater
10/24 Albany, NY @ Empire Center at the Egg
10/25 New York, NY @ Town Hall
10/27 Glenside, PA @ The Keswick
10/29 Annapolis, MD @ Ram’s Head on Stage
10/30 Cleveland, OH @ Masonic Auditorium
10/31 Toronto, Canada @ Phoenix Music Hall
11/02 Ann Arbor, MI @ The Ark
11/03 Chicago, IL @ The Park West
11/04 Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theater
11/06 St. Paul, MN @ O’Shaunessy
11/07 Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theatre
11/09 Santa Fe, NM @ Lensic Performing Arts Center
11/12 Mesa, AZ @ Mesa Arts Center
11/13 Los Angeles, CA @ Club Nokia
11/15 San Francisco, CA @ Palace of Fine Arts
11/17 Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theatre
11/18 Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre
11/19 Vancouver, Canada @ Commodore Ballroom

Playing For Change Official Site

Youtube

Myspace

One Love for Playing For Change...

Giving voice to an extraordinary effort to inspire peace through music and to connect diverse musicians worldwide, including those in conflict regions, Hear Music today announced the April 28 release of Playing For Change – Songs Around the World. The special CD/DVD package, available at participating Starbucks company-operated locations in the U.S. and Canada and at traditional retail worldwide, contains a ten-song audio CD as well as a seven-track DVD, which features five of the songs performed live. The DVD also includes a trailer for the forthcoming PFC documentary and information on the PFC Foundation.

Grammy winning producer/engineer Mark Johnson and his Playing For Change team traveled for a decade with a single minded passion to connect the world though music. Their ambitious journey took them from post-apartheid South Africa, through the ancient sites of the Middle East, to the remote beauty of the Himalayas and beyond. Using innovative mobile technology, the PFC crew filmed and recorded more than 100 musicians, largely outdoors, in parks, plazas and promenades, in doorways, on cobblestone streets and amid hilly pueblos. Each captured performance created a new mix in which essentially the artists are all performing together, albeit hundreds or thousands of miles apart. In a recent interview with PFC founder Johnson, PBS’ Bill Moyers called Playing For Change a remarkable example of “the simple yet transformative power of music...to touch something in each of us.”

Some of the magical moments include Ireland’s Omagh Community Youth Choir singing“Love Rescue Me,” written by U2 and Bob Dylan, and American street musicians Roger Ridley and Grandpa Elliott harmonizing with Clarence Bekker from the Netherlands amid an assembly of artists from Russia, Spain, Venezuela, France and Brazil on the Ben E. King/Leiber & Stoller classic “Stand By Me,” the video of which has already become a YouTube sensation with over seven million views.

Also included is an exhilarating version of the Marley classic “War/No More Trouble”. The track (and video) includes musicians from The Congo, Israel, India, Ireland, South Africa, the U.S., Zimbabwe and Ghana, along with U2’s Bono and Bob Marley. Marley’s “One Love” proved to be an irresistible choice for the producers as well, enlisting American Keb’ Mo’ to sing with performers from India, Israel, Nepal, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

This unparalleled international collaboration of vocalists and musicians are also heard on versions of Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come,” Tracy Chapman’s “Talkin’ Bout A Revolution” and Peter Gabriel’s “Biko”.

The relationship between Playing for Change and Hear Music was facilitated by legendary television producer Norman Lear, co-owner of Concord Music Group, which formed the Hear Music label with Starbucks in March 2007.

“With Playing for Change, Mark Johnson and his team have created a movement that transcends language, border and culture, one that brings people together to a common purpose: peace,” states Lear. “We are thrilled to have this opportunity, along with our Starbucks partners, to bring this special project to the people.”

A five-city Playing For Change – Songs Around the World tour featuring some of the musicians on the CD and DVD will kick off at this year’s SXSW music conference in Austin, Texas on Friday March 20th. Other confirmed dates are:

March 23rd ~ Knitting Factory in Los Angeles
March 24th ~ Slims in San Francisco
March 25th ~ The Showbox at the Market in Seattle
March 31st ~ Highline Ballroom in New York

Playing For Change Official Site
Playing For Change on YouTube
Playing For Change on Facebook
Playing For Change on Myspace

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