PFC: Songs Around the World

Playing for Change is an extraordinary effort to unite musicians and vocalists from diverse parts of the globe, while at the same time seeking to immerse audiences in a multimedia movement to inspire, connect and bring peace to the world through music.

Utilizing innovative mobile audio / video techniques, Playing for Change (PFC) records musicians outdoors in cities and townships worldwide. They've travelled from post-Katrina New Orleans to post-apartheid South Africa, from the remote beauty of the Himalayas to the religious diversity of Jerusalem. Their talents are captured in myriad environments: under the sun and beneath the streetlights... in public parks, plazas and promenades... in doorways, on cobblestone streets, amid hilly pueblos. Their performances are subsequently combined in allowing them to collaborate - albeit separated by hundreds, or even thousands, of miles.

For ten years founder Mark Johnson traveled the globe, recording musicians for what would become Playing for Change - its name evoking the coins thrown to street musicians as well as the transformation their music inspires. "The act of playing music with people of different cultures, religions, economics and politics is a powerful statement. 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."