Playing for Change
JP and I recently went to a concert by a band calling Playing for Change, which is a group of street/local musicians from all over the world, that were put together to form a band that is all about peace and spreading its message through music. In fact, their touring concert is raising money to start music education programs in poor areas of the world, to bring peace and hope to those areas. It all started as a guy who went around recording different musicians and splicing them together for videos on youtube. This is a great one: http://www.playingforchange.com/episodes/2/Stand_by_Me, which includes over 35 musicians who never met in person.The show was really powerful, and the band was absolutely amazing, especially since something like 10 different countries were represented in just the one band. The beloved frontman, called Grandpa, is a blind street musician from New Orleans. His voice is different, but everyone seems to love him. At the end, after the encore, Grandpa was left alone on the stage, and everyone was quiet. I kind of wondered if he was waiting for someone to help him off the stage.
But after another seemingly long pause, he started singing, low and slow, a capella style. "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound," and the waves of memories of my dad washed over me. I pulled JP closer and just hugged him and tried not to listen.
"That saved a wretch like me." But of course I could hear what he was singing.
"I, I, I once was lost, oh, and now I'm found." This was my dad's favorite song, and every time I hear it, I think of him and miss him. A lot.
"Was blind, but now I see." But then I thought about this man and what this song meant to him. I thought about how much this song is true for him. And maybe, even hopefully, this song can take on a new meaning for me, so that every time I hear it, I can think of the positive instead of the sadness.
http://www.playingforchange.com/episodes/19/Amazing_Grace_Live_in_Boston
posted by Biff @ 11:49 PM
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