Month: July 2014

Touring The World…

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Our tour across the U.S just ended and we are now starting a new tour across Europe! I´m taking a minute to embrace all those beautiful moments on our last PFC tour and share some photos with you.

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I can only feel extremely greatful and so blessed while I go through the pictures that take me back to so many special moments on that tour bus. There we were 30 shows in 29 cities,10 musicians, 3 crew members, our beloved driver Doug and one bus that was our home for 7 weeks while we traveled all over the country, Playing For Change. That was a memorable experience I will cherish for life. The laughs we had, the music we shared, the stories we told and the lessons we’™ve learned together as a group, as friends, as human beings. The people we met on our way were so passionate and loving, reminding us every time why love is the only way and how powerful music really is.

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I am looking forward for another great tour with Playing For Change, but before, I just wanted to stop and say Thank you.
Thank you Playing For Change for inviting me on this tour and allowing me to add my voice in the call for peace and love through music. Thank you all those beautiful souls that connected with ours on the way and believe
that “A Change is Gonna Come”.

Thank you life, for teaching us that there´s always more to live and learn and love.
Shalom, Salam, Peace!
Tula

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La Bamba Performance Contest

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Somewhere in Italy: Roberto and Clarence – Tunnel Jam

TITLE CONTEST 2

star Here’s your chance to be part of a PFC video AND win a Fender Standard Telecaster guitar signed by PFC Band members and Grammy Winners, Los Lobos!

star Simply submit a video of you (and your friends, family, community, etc.) playing or dancing along with the instrumental track of “La Bamba” and post on your favorite social network, tagging your video with #PFCLaBamba.

star Our favorite clips will be incorporated into the new “fan version” of the video by Playing For Change. The Grand Prize winner for best performance will receive the signed Fender guitar and the top 4 contestants will receive copies of the new PFC3: Songs Around The World CD/DVD!

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Check out the original PFC Song Around The World video here:

 

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As PFC musicians do, listen to the instrumental track through headphones while recording so it’s not included in the sound. If you’d like to record only dancing, feel free to play the instrumental track aloud. Perform the whole song or just your favorite part (a verse, chorus, or solo). Feel free to sing, dance, and/or play any instrument — be creative and have fun!

how to film AND RECORD new

Shoot preferably outdoors. 2 camera angles maximum (of the same take). Your camera must have a microphone even if you record the audio separately. Use any decent microphone and hardware to record and ensure the sound isn’t distorted. You can even use your iPhone!

how to submit 2 bamba

Post on Vimeo.com: Post a private video and send an email to participate@playingforchange.com with the link and password to access and download the video. Make sure you’ve enabled the download of the video in your vimeo settings.

OR send file via email: You can also send us a download link (to participate@playingforchange.com) through WeTransfer, Hightail or via FTP. Please send us the video and the audio in separate files. Name the files: “œla bamba_your name_take or camera.”

Then post on social media: Upload your video to your favorite site (Youtube, Vine, Instagram, Vimeo, Facebook, Twitter) so others can enjoy it, and don’t forget to tag it with #PFCLaBamba!

Deadline: August 25th!

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(If you are just posting your performance and not submitting to be a part of the fan video, feel free to record the video & audio however you wish!)

Video: HD .mov file / H264 or MP4 / 1920×1080

Audio: Wav or AIFF, Stereo or Mono, -24 or 16 bits in 44Hz

 

 

 

Playing For Change Day 2014: September 20th

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This September 20th, the Playing For Change Foundation will be celebrating its 4th annual Playing For Change Day, a global celebration of music and its power to unite and uplift communities all over the world. We started this Day in 2011 to provide an opportunity for all of the fans, followers, and friends of the PFC movement to participate more directly in what we do, unifying humanity and empowering people all over the world to find true self-expression through music.

 

It’s amazing how many people have written to us expressing how much the “Songs Around the World” video series inspired them and made them want to get involved in our organization. Not only musicians and artists, but people from all walks of life would say “I watched your ‘Peace Through Music’ documentary and the ‘Songs Around the World’ series and was blown away… How do I become a part of this movement?!”
We created PFC Day as a way for these people to directly channel that passion, energy, and dedication into something that would truly make a difference– not just in their local communities but in underserved and remote populations all across the globe. The funds raised through people’s grassroots PFC Day events go to support the Playing For Change Foundation’s 9 music education programs throughout the world in Mali, Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa, Nepal, and Thailand. The Day is a chance for people to engage with our cause in whatever way is most meaningful to them, be it playing a large-scale outdoor concert, a short acoustic performance in a coffee house, hula-hooping in their backyard, filming their own music video, teaching a benefit yoga class, hosting a bake sale, or busking on street corners or subway platforms (how this whole movement began!). The possibilities are truly endless and we’ve had the joy of seeing just how far so many thousands of people all over the world are willing to go for the cause. We’ve also had a pleasure of seeing it all GROW! Our first PFC Day in 2011 was a solid effort with 225 events in 41 countries, but last year we had over 300 events in 56 countries which raised over $150,000 to support music education programming worldwide and we have a good feeling this year is going to be our biggest and best yet!
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One of the most rewarding parts of it is that we’ve also been able to extend our programmatic reach as a direct result of PFC Day. A few people in Bangkok, Thailand had organized their own PFC Day event back in 2011… as our correspondence continued to flourish and some of our friends happened to be out there for the event in September, soon enough we found ourselves working with those Thai contacts to establish the Khlong Toey Music Program, PFCF’s 9th official school. To this day it serves over 30 children every week and provides them with a safe haven away from drugs and gang activity in one of Bangkok’s most notorious slums. We’ve been able to forge even more connections and use PFC Day as a chance to connect students in U.S. schools to our own students in Africa or Asia, helping all of them understand what it’s like to be part of a global family.
Our PFC Day event creators are some of the most driven, inspiring people I’ve had the privilege of getting to know. Now that a number of them are in their second, third, or even fourth year of coordinating events, they’ve been able to recruit large groups of dedicated volunteers to support their efforts and they’ve shown what it means to be a true ambassador for the cause. I’m grateful for all the people who have reached out to us, offering a helping hand and an eagerness to make our movement grow. If you haven’t yet had the joy of participating in PFC Day, look for an event in your area or create your own at pfcday.org! See you all on September 20th.
Jeremy Elliott, PFC Day Coordinator

10 Playing For Change Songs That Will Change Your Life

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By: Jaime Lutz

In honor of Playing For Change’s newly-released third album, PFC3: Songs Around The World, we’™ve put together a track list of ten amazing Playing For Change songs that truly deserve the (usually insultingly vague) classification of World Music and exemplify the amazing body of work they’™ve created over the years.

If this is your first time hearing about Playing For Change and you’™re not sure what the fuss is all about, imagine yourself listening to a musician on a street corner who is way too talented to perform for free. That was Mark Johnson’™s experience in 2005. Mark heard a man named Roger Ridley sing “œStand By Me” in Santa Monica. Johnson was so moved by the troubadour’™s voice that he asked “œWith a voice like yours, why are you singing in the streets?”

“œMan, I’™m in the joy business,” Ridley replied. “œI come out to be with the people.”

This week, Playing For Change takes the joy business online as “Songs Around The World” meets fans around the world for the first time. Please join them for a series of interactive live video performances on Wizeo, the second of which will be streamed from Barcelona this Friday, July 18th and third from Austria on Saturday, July 26th. Check out a video from the first performance PFC Band members did live from San Francisco on July 10th.

1. Clandestino

Led by French sensation Manu Chao, this reggae-Latin jam features artists from five continents; everything but Antarctica and Oceania.

2. Stand By Me

The song that started it all. Totally stunning.

3. What’s Going On

Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” took years to cover, but the final result, featuring Sara Bareilles, is something special.

4. What a Wonderful World

It’™s a “What a Wonderful World” sung by children’s choirs. Come on, you like this one before you even hit play.

5. Gimme Shelter

The Rolling Stones’™ counter-culture anthem takes a bluesy, swampy turn on this inspired cover.

6. Teach Your Children

You might want to cut onions before you play this one; you know, in order to save face.

7. œ(Sittin’™ On) The Dock of The Bay

This video begins with Roger Ridley in a live, street-side performance. I’™m charmed by the way he thanks everyone who gives him a tip, and how his voice is so remarkably similar to Otis Redding’s, the original singer of this classic.

8. œLamuka

This original, by Congolese musician Christian Baklanga, is mesmerizing, and accompanied by nothing more than his guitar.

9. œSatchita

Another, highly danceable original by Playing For Change.

10. œGroove in G

This one’™s really cool -” Playing for Change went around the world and asked musicians to play a blues groove in the key of G. The end result is an original composition, written by composers hundreds of miles apart.