The Power of Music

Can music change the world?  The answer is, of course, a resounding yes.

Music possesses a power—to a greater extent than any other art form—to bring together people of diverse backgrounds, varying religions, opposing political views, and other typically divisive issues. Whether on a front porch in Appalachia, a New York City subway station, a street corner in Los Angeles or New Orleans, on a park bench, in an arena or stadium, or anywhere at all, music attracts a crowd that can, at least temporarily, agree—a group willing to unite, whether they realize it or not, in the moment.

Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, at the conclusion of an episode of Sundance Channel’s Iconoclasts series (Season 2, Episode 1), said it best:

If you look out and the lights come on, to see that many people agreeing on something, I just find it so powerful. Look at what happens when so many people agree on something, you know. Can we take this beyond the parking lot when we leave tonight?

Anyone who’s ever been to a live musical performance—no matter the location, no matter the size of the venue—knows exactly the experience Vedder is describing. For a musician playing on stage in front of thousands, for an individual listening to her favorite album in a small room, for a fan enjoying his favorite band in person among thousands of other fans, for a musician practicing alone and out of sight, music transforms, transcends and transports.

But can music really change the world?

Producer Mark Johnson certainly thinks so, spending the last decade of his life dedicated to a project, Playing For Change, that strives (quite successfully, so far) to connect the world through music. Using a mobile studio, Johnson has captured audio and video of relatively unrecognized musicians—mostly street performers unknown even to each other prior to being persuaded to join the movement (which is really what it’s become)—across the globe, building songs as he and his crew journey from one continent to another, from one culture to another. (Watch Johnson talk with Bill Moyers about the project last year here, and listen to him discuss Playing For Change on NPR here.)

Playing For Change: Connecting the World Through Music

The “Playing For Change: Peace Through Music” documentary—one of the many creative endeavors to result from the project—premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008. A music video for “Stand By Me” was also unveiled on YouTube last year. Dozens of musicians from all corners of the planet collaborated, while separated by hundreds or thousands of miles, vast cultural differences and diverse musical backgrounds, employing a wide range of instruments and distinct voices, to create a gorgeous, inspirational rendition of the song. If you happen to be one of the few people who has not already caught this viral sensation a few times (nearly 11 million views to date on YouTube), watch and enjoy now:

Today, Playing For Change released several new videos, including a stirring interpretation of Bob Marley’s “War/No More Trouble,” which, like all the songs in the series, formed as each new musician added his or her part to the growing song as Johnson took it around the world.

“The act of playing music with people of different cultures, religions, economics and politics is a powerful statement,” Johnson writes on the site. “It shows that we can find ways of working together and sharing our experiences with one another in a positive way. Music has the power to break down the walls between cultures, to raise the level of human understanding.”

Along with the new video content on the Playing For Change site and YouTube Channel, a CD/DVD called “Playing For Change: Songs Around the World” was released today (available on iTunes, Amazon and the official PFC site). Watch the “making of” video here. The documentary film is due out later this year. As part of the project, Johnson formed the Playing For Change Foundation, which funds the building of music schools throughout the world.

Can music change the world? Anyone with a passion to play and those who love to listen know the power of music; it affects our world, in small and large ways, on a regular basis. But more importantly, as the sights and sounds of Johnson’s Playing For Change project aptly demonstrate, music connects us all—for a few hours at a concert or across continents and cultures, beyond geographical and other manmade divisions—in this ever-shrinking global village in which we now reside. Music might not instantaneously change the world, but it can change the way we see and understand the world. And that’s a start—a catalyst to changing how we act as individuals and interact with others.