Kirina has recently experienced a tremendous change for the daily life of the community. The village has been offered more than 300 solar panels (photovoltaic panels) through the Malian government. The initiative is the result of the cooperation between the Chinese and the Malian governments. The village of Kirina has been chosen for this very special gift among thousands of villages in Mali…

When we provided resources to the Mother’s Society in Tintale, Nepal, we knew there was a great need. Now, several years later, we stand in awe of the creativity and courage of this group of women - and the girls who have joined them - who are using music, dance and performances to educate area villages about the risks of human trafficking, drugs and alcohol.

A few months ago we were approached by the organization InArte - International Meetings of Inclusion through the Arts - which has been working for several years on the field of social integration through arts. Every year in Lisbon, Portugal, different seminars, performances and workshops designed to bring together artists, technicians, teachers, psychologists, students, and more are being organized in order to share experiences on the use of arts as a tool for social integration.

Music education creates powerful change.

A recent comprehensive evaluation of our programs shows evidence of success, and we are inspired by the positive feedback from program participants. We are pleased to share with you some of what we heard and observed: the change in action.

When you support the Playing For Change Foundation, you are making this kind of change possible for our students and the communities they live in. Thank you so much!

In an effort to expand and share the Playing For Change vision, FreshStart Apparel is joining in the mission by creating and releasing two new T-shirt designs celebrating and supporting the Playing For Change Foundation. The shirts were designed by FreshStart artists Rosannah von Moritz, creator of Scottie & Rooh and Michael Nouri. For each garment sold, FreshStart will donate $5 to the foundation.  Available in multiple styles and sizes, the first design is “Music” and the second design “New Friends”.

Aaron Lee Tasjan is a musician and songwriter whose songs have been recorded by many of today’s most prominent artists like Jack White and Pat Green. Aaron was recently selected as one of 10 artists to participate in a web series called Eye Level on TakePart TV.  The series focuses on artists whose work carries a socially-consious message. When the participating artsts were asked to choose an organization to speak about and to receive a donation from TakePart, Aaron chose the Playing For Change Foundation.  TakePart is the digital arm of Participant media, the production company that created An Inconvenient Truth, Food Inc., The Help, Contagion and Waiting for Superman, and other thought-provoking films that increase public awareness about important social issues.

Kris Amila Oh is busy spreading word about the work of the Playing For Change Foundation in his home country of Korea. A musician and experienced humanitarian, Kris has been involved in community organization, youth empowerment, student-led movements, informal music education, and global citizenship in various countries including Sri Lanka, Philippines, Germany, Nepal, Russia, USA, Japan, Guatemala, and Mexico. Inspired by the Playing For Change episodes, he documented his musical activities during his travels and produced a short film. The movie includes information encouraging viewers to participate in Playing For Change Day back in 2011. This was only the beginning of Kris’s involvement with the Playing For Change Foundation.

I wasn’t looking forward to going to Kathmandu.  It was taking me away from everything I love – hot weather, beaches, boating, bars, music, or so I thought.  However, I took a spontaneous decision to go there since I had been donating to the Nepali PFC music program for about 2 years.  I wanted to go and see for myself, what we were funding…

This video is now part of a video contest being sponsored by the National Educational Music Company (NEMC). If selected as the winning video, PFCF has been designated to be the recipient of the award: $10,000 in instruments.

For the past two weeks, the students at the Bizung School of Music and Dance and I have been working on a new song. The name of the song is “Zanma Bahi Kan Chan Torani” and it is a traditional song that is accompanied by the Tora Dance.

We have been workshopping the piece to build it in an ensemble style. Traditionally it is played only with lunga and gungon but the children are now learning to adapt the chant and the rhythms to a melody for the xylophone, gonje and keyboards as well as developing supporting rhythms for kpanlogo, djembe and dundun drums along with the traditional lunga and gungon drums.