Playing for Change
Playing For Change is a multimedia music project, featuring musicians and singers from across the globe, co-founded in 2002 by Mark Johnson and Whitney Kroenke. Playing For Change also created in 2007 a separate non-profit organization called the Playing For Change Foundation, which builds music and art schools for children around the world.
Origin
Playing For Change was founded in 2002 by Mark Johnson and Whitney Kroenke. Mark Johnson was walking in Santa Monica, California, when he heard the voice of Roger Ridley singing "Stand By Me"; it was this experience that sent Playing For Change on its mission to connect the world through music.Travelling the world with a small film and recording team, producers Johnson and Enzo Buono developed a mobile recording studio for recording and filming musicians live outdoors, and progressively editing all the separate artists, blending all into one performance as PFC travelled from artist to artist, country to country. Starting with a studio-made demo in the right key and tempo, "we would deconstruct " as each recorded musician could listen with headphones to what had been recorded before them, and playing the same song, adding into the mix their own style. For the project Johnson has recorded and filmed music in more than 50 countries across the world.
More than 150—mostly street—musicians from 25 countries have combined their talents to create a global phenomenon with millions of followers across the world. Artists participating or openly involved in the project are Mermans Mosengo, Marcus King, Lukas Nelson, Char, Orbe Ortiz, Paulo Heman, Peter Bunetta, Roberto Luti, Titi Tsira, Jason Tamba, Keiko Komaki, Vusi Mahlasela, Louis Mhlanga, Clarence Bekker, David Guido Pietroni, Tal Ben Ari, Bono, Keb' Mo', David Broza, Manu Chao, Grandpa Elliott, Keith Richards, The Pocket Queen, Toots Hibbert from Toots & the Maytals, Taj Mahal, Stephen Marley, Jerron "Blind Boy" Paxton, and Washboard Chaz. This resulted in the documentary A Cinematic Discovery of Street Musicians that won the Audience Award at the Woodstock Film Festival in September 2008.
In April 2009, the first album was released with ”Songs Around the World” a collection of the first years of the multimedia project, debuted at number 10 on Billboard's Pop Chart. The band's version of the Ben E. King classic—which interwove the performances of 18 street musicians, including a South African choir—in 2012 had more than 40 million views on YouTube alone. The Playing for Change Band, an international touring band that brings artists of all backgrounds together, raising money and awareness for the foundation, features individual musicians from across the globe that the multimedia project has met through the years of travelling, recording and filming, and is regularly touring the world to spread the word of the basis of the Playing For Change foundation.
During their travels the project met and recorded many musicians from across the globe, some of whom lived in underprivileged communities, Playing For Change project decided to give something back. After the making of two documentaries about the multimedia project, Playing for Change: A Cinematic Discovery of Street Musicians, and Playing For Change: Peace Through Music, the founders of Playing For Change project created the Playing For Change Foundation, a separate 501 nonprofit organization. PFC was approached by the United Nations Population Fund to celebrate via a virtual concert the United Nations' 75th anniversary in December 2020.
Musical collaborations
● PFC has recorded more than 1,000 musicians from 50+ countries● PFC has worked with Kiran Nepali, Bono, Keith Richards, Manu Chao, Toots Hibbert, Ziggy Marley, Keb' Mo', Baaba Maal, Char, Tinariwen, Los Lobos, Jackson Browne, Taj Mahal, Jimmy Buffett, Sara Bareilles, Maroon 5, Robert Plant, John Densmore, Stephen Marley, Bombino, Bill Kreutzmann, David Crosby, Chad Smith, Jason Mraz, Josh Groban, Jake Shimabukuro, Yo-Yo Ma, Citizen Cope, Bernie Williams, Trombone Shorty, Buddy Guy, The Doobie Brothers, Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, Tom Morello, Nattali Rize Billy Branch James Gadson, Pancho Amat, Warren Haynes, Ivan and Cyril Neville, Rocky Dawuni, David Guido Pietroni, Jon Cleary, Donald Kinsey, Lee Oskar, Robbie Robertson, Dr. John, Ringo Starr, Aloe Blacc, Angélique Kidjo, Annie Lennox, Becky G, Brandi Carlile with Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, Carlos Santana and Cindy Blackman Santana, Gabi Melim, Gary Clark Jr., Jim James, Mavis Staples, Nathaniel Rateliff, Peter Gabriel, Rhiannon Giddens, Robert Randolph, Run The Jewels with Josh Homme, Sheila E., Skip Marley and Cedella Marley, The War and Treaty, Sherieta Lewis, and Steve Miller.
Playing For Change Foundation
Since 2007 the Playing for Change Foundation, a 501 non-profit organization, has created and supported fifteen music school programs across eleven developing countries:- Imvula Music Program, Gugulethu, South Africa
- Bizung School of Music & Dance, Tamale, Ghana
- Udayapur Nepal Music Program, Udayapur District, Nepal
- Ecole de Musique de Kirina, Kirina, Mali
- Tintale Village Mother's Society, Nepal
- Ubuntu Music Program, Kigali, Rwanda
- Mitrata Nepal Village Music Program, Kathmandu, Nepal
- Musica Music Institute, Kathmandu, Nepal
- Khlong Toey Music Program, Bangkok, Thailand
- Cajuru Music Program, Curitiba, Brazil
- Mirpur Music Program, Dhaka, Bangladesh
- Joudour Sahara Music Program, M'Hamid El Ghizlane, Morocco
- Playing For Change Patagonia, Patagonia, Argentina
- Baja Musical Arts Intensive, Tijuana, Mexico
- PFC Diamante, Argentina Diamante, Argentina
In 2019, the Playing For Change Foundation was awarded the Polar Music Prize.
Impact award
Since 2022, the Playing For Change Foundation annually presents their honorary Impact Award, honoring artists and music icons for their mission of creating positive change through music and arts education while being able to continue their worldwide impact. The first ever winners of the Impact Award were music icons Luis Fonsi and Paula Abdul. The recipients to date have been:| Year | Recipient | Country | Work | Honored for | Ref | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | Paula Abdul |  USDiscography
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