Playing For Change

Playing For Change is a collective devoted to bringing music and arts education to underprivileged children in the furthest corners of the world. It became a global phenomenon on the strength of its first release, a cover of “Stand By Me”.

And to mark the very first Playing For Change day ever, this collective has now recorded a cover of Stevie Wonder’s classic track “Higher Ground”.

This is the clip. It features the joint talent of vocalist Clarence Bekker (from the Netherlands) and percussionists from countries as distant as Mali, Senegal, Brazil, Colombia and Jamaica. A 21-string West African bridge-harp is also in evidence.

September the 17th has been designated as the annual Playing For Change day, and the theme of the first one is “Power To The People”. It’s supported by no other than Yoko Ono, and the aim is to raise $250,000 to be able to subsidize the collective’s operations for 2012. Music festivals and personal celebrations have already been announced in all five continents in support of this special day.