Playing for Change

I came to learn about Playing for change when a friend sent me a link in one of those "you need to see this" chain emails. I listened to "Stand by me" and was impressed. Very cool. I've put a few of the videos on this page for your enjoyment. Playing for change home page is at http://www.playingforchange.com/ . I would love to hear your feedback on this...send me an email and let me know what you think.

Enjoy,

-Ed

edmathias@sbcglobal.net

Stand by me

This cover of Stand By Me was recorded by completely unknown artists in a street virtual studio all around the world. It all started with a base track—vocals and guitar—recorded on the streets of Santa Monica, California, by a street musician called Roger Ridley. The base track was then taken to New Orleans, Louisiana, where Grandpa Elliott—a blind singer from the French Quarter—added vocals and harmonica while listening to Ridley's base track on headphones. In the same city, Washboard Chaz's added some metal percussion to it.

And from there, it just gets rock 'n' rolling bananas: The producers took the resulting mix all through Europe, Africa, and South America, adding new tracks with multiple instruments and vocals that were assembled in the final version you are seeing in this video. All done with a simple laptop and some microphones.

Don't Worry

"Don't Worry" is the first original song around the world featured by Playing For Change. It was written by Pierre Minetti in Barcelona, Spain and speaks of the unity we all share on this planet. As the song states. "Let's don't worry my brother, in this world we are all the same, we must find peace..." The video features over 20 musicians from 4 continents who have never met in person, but are connected through the message and the music.

One Love

“Let’s get together and feel alright”. While recording and filming in Dharmsala India, where we planned to add some Tibetan singers to this track we passed by a small record shop on the side of the road. The display featured about 50 Tibetan CD covers and one Bob Marley album in the middle. This song around the world is in dedication to the love inside each of us. We can achieve far more together as a human race than we ever can apart. One Love.

Chanda Mama

This Song Around The World is a folk tune from Chennai, India. We started the track in New Orleans and added musicians from the across the globe before finally delivering it the people of it’s origin. We ended up in Chennai recording and filming the vocals from the Oneness Choir. The track has a feeling of perseverance and joy and features vocalists from four continents.

War, No More Trouble

As we made our way around the world we encountered love, hate, rich and poor, black and white, and many different religious groups and ideologies. It became very clear that as a human race we need to transcend from the darkness to the light and music is our weapon of the future. This song around the world features musicians who have seen and overcome conflict and hatred with love and perseverance. “We don’t need more trouble, what we need is love”. The spirit of Bob Marley always lives on.

Change Is Gonna Come

This performance demonstrates what happens when some of the musicians from “Stand By Me” meet and perform for the first time. This song was recorded live in New Orleans, and features Grandpa Elliot and Clarence Bekker on vocals. Thousands of people witness first hand the soul and conviction of two men who make us all believe a change is going to come.

Bring It On Home

After we discovered Roger Ridley performing on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica and asked him if we could record him singing the John Lennon version of “Stand By Me,” we were so blown away with his presence and enthusiasm toward music and people that we wanted to film his entire set. This song, “Bring It On Home,” Roger dedicated to Mark in that moment.

Izulu

Our guide while filming in Durban, South Africa and in the township of Umlazi outside of Durban was Bekhani Mamela. Bekhani turned out to be one of the most pivotal people we collaborated with during our journey. He is the choir director and founder of Sinamuva who is featured in all but one of Playing for Change’s songs around the world. His arrangement on these songs brought us to tears. He, along with Sinamuva, is a pure representation of hope for all South Africans persevering darkness with music.

Stand by me

This cover of Stand By Me was recorded by completely unknown artists in a street virtual studio all around the world. It all started with a base track—vocals and guitar—recorded on the streets of Santa Monica, California, by a street musician called Roger Ridley. The base track was then taken to New Orleans, Louisiana, where Grandpa Elliott—a blind singer from the French Quarter—added vocals and harmonica while listening to Ridley's base track on headphones. In the same city, Washboard Chaz's added some metal percussion to it. And from there, it just gets rock 'n' rolling bananas: The producers took the resulting mix all through Europe, Africa, and South America, adding new tracks with multiple instruments and vocals that were assembled in the final version you are seeing in this video. All done with a simple laptop and some microphones.

Don't Worry

"Don't Worry" is the first original song around the world featured by Playing For Change. It was written by Pierre Minetti in Barcelona, Spain and speaks of the unity we all share on this planet. As the song states. "Let's don't worry my brother, in this world we are all the same, we must find peace..." The video features over 20 musicians from 4 continents who have never met in person, but are connected through the message and the music.

One Love

“Let’s get together and feel alright”. While recording and filming in Dharmsala India, where we planned to add some Tibetan singers to this track we passed by a small record shop on the side of the road. The display featured about 50 Tibetan CD covers and one Bob Marley album in the middle. This song around the world is in dedication to the love inside each of us. We can achieve far more together as a human race than we ever can apart. One Love.

Chanda Mama

This Song Around The World is a folk tune from Chennai, India. We started the track in New Orleans and added musicians from the across the globe before finally delivering it the people of it’s origin. We ended up in Chennai recording and filming the vocals from the Oneness Choir. The track has a feeling of perseverance and joy and features vocalists from four continents.

War, No More Trouble

As we made our way around the world we encountered love, hate, rich and poor, black and white, and many different religious groups and ideologies. It became very clear that as a human race we need to transcend from the darkness to the light and music is our weapon of the future. This song around the world features musicians who have seen and overcome conflict and hatred with love and perseverance. “We don’t need more trouble, what we need is love”. The spirit of Bob Marley always lives on.

Change Is Gonna Come

This performance demonstrates what happens when some of the musicians from “Stand By Me” meet and perform for the first time. This song was recorded live in New Orleans, and features Grandpa Elliot and Clarence Bekker on vocals. Thousands of people witness first hand the soul and conviction of two men who make us all believe a change is going to come.

Bring It On Home

After we discovered Roger Ridley performing on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica and asked him if we could record him singing the John Lennon version of “Stand By Me,” we were so blown away with his presence and enthusiasm toward music and people that we wanted to film his entire set. This song, “Bring It On Home,” Roger dedicated to Mark in that moment.

Izulu

Our guide while filming in Durban, South Africa and in the township of Umlazi outside of Durban was Bekhani Mamela. Bekhani turned out to be one of the most pivotal people we collaborated with during our journey. He is the choir director and founder of Sinamuva who is featured in all but one of Playing for Change’s songs around the world. His arrangement on these songs brought us to tears. He, along with Sinamuva, is a pure representation of hope for all South Africans persevering darkness with music.