Playing for Change: Music, Transcendence and the Human Spirit

by Nathaniel Whittemore

category: Inspiration

Published May 02, 2009 @ 02:43PM PT

Mermans Kenkosenki, from Playing for Change

In the summer of 2005, I traveled from Serbia to Rwanda, spending as much time as I could with the nonprofits, volunteers, social entrepreneurs, and communities who were working to create a better future. The trip, which largely took place in post or current conflict zone, forced me into ugly confrontation with the question that lurks behind economic development: "development" to what ends?

Perhaps this will seem obvious, but stories I heard and the passions that drove the people I found were not focused on economies of consumption, they were about the ability to be more; to have the freedom and mobility to pursue passions; to provide happier and more comfortable lives for their family, and to experience the joy of being alive in it's full richness without the threat of brutal, stupid, and undeserved war or famine or poverty.

It may just be me, but I often need to remind myself that the reason I work to create change is to unleash the full potential of the human spirit. If the global market is a vehicle for that, I'll seize it with gusto, but that is means, not end.

There is little that does so much to remind me of the beauty and potential of our creativity as music. When I hear the first few notes of the chorus I/II of Bach's "St. Matthews Passion," the way the hair stands up on the back of my neck is the same as when I'm grabbed by the sardonic groove of Fela Kuti's "Shuffering and Smiling" is the same as when I feel the staccato pulse of Arcade Fire's "Rebellion (Lies)" is the same as when I hear Esau Mwamwaya triumphantly holler "Malawi!" over Sri Lankan-via-London M.I.A.'s anthem "Boyz."

Music makes me feel connected to a human experience that is more than the sum of its problems.

That's why I love the Playing for Change project, a multi-year journey that brought a mobile recording studio around the world to have dozens of musicians collaborate virtually to render some of the most powerful, moving, and beautiful songs of all time. The project has ambitious goals:

...to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race.

But no matter how big that seems, it's something that resonates deep, deep in my guts. It reminds me just how lucky we are to live in a moment where someone can actually convene this wonderful collaboration. Watch this video of "One Love," listen to the steel guitar hang on those very first notes and just try to feel alone. Then look at the comments.

To learn more about Playing for Change, including the work of their foundation which is building schools and supporting music programs around the world, visit their website.