Playing for Change Open Thread - "When the Levee Breaks" is the latest from this great music source.

[Xulonn]

I stumbled across a Playing for Change music video a couple of years ago, not realizing the impact and global following that the program has. I quickly fell in love with the concept, format, and a lot of the music - and the excellent quality of the video and audio. I am astounded at the not only the production quality but also the tight synchronization of musicians playing indoors and outdoors - often at their homes or in their neighborhoods around the world. In the Playing for Change videos, you can easily see in the faces and movements of the artists, the joy of making music. It is real and palpable. These people obviously love what they are doing - and that makes the music even more enjoyable for me!

It has been many years since I listened to new music that would fall under any sub-genre of popular music, but I see Playing for Change as a wndow into the music of real people - and not some Hollywood corporate image-makers concept of what will sell the most. (I am, however, a big fan of the Putumayo label, and have many of their world music albums.)

Blow are four of my current favorites, and encourage others who are into Playing for Change to so the same - but please post only Playing for Change videos.

I would also like to hear what others think about Playing for Change as a source for new music. Especially those who have been fans for a long time and have watched the program evolve.

Was it always this good?

First - "The Levee Breaks" - 2022 (2.5 million YouTube views in its first two weeks!):

Next, "Groove in G" - 2011:

Thirdly, "El Amanacer" - 2018 (Argentina):

And finally, "Natural Mystic/Just a Little Bit" - 2018:

 

[Deleted member 21219]

My favorite:

 

[Doodski]

I stumbled across a Playing for Change music video a couple of years ago, not realizing the impact and global following that the program has. I quickly fell in love with the concept, format, and a lot of the music - and the excellent quality of the video and audio. I am astounded at the not only the production quality but also the tight synchronization of musicians playing indoors and outdoors - often at their homes or in their neighborhoods around the world. In the Playing for Change videos, you can easily see in the faces and movements of the artists, the joy of making music. It is real and palpable. These people obviously love what they are doing - and that makes the music even more enjoyable for me!

It has been many years since I listened to new music that would fall under any sub-genre of popular music, but I see Playing for Change as a wndow into the music of real people - and not some Hollywood corporate image-makers concept of what will sell the most. (I am, however, a big fan of the Putumayo label, and have many of their world music albums.)

Blow are four of my current favorites, and encourage others who are into Playing for Change to so the same - but please post only Playing for Change videos.

I would also like to hear what others think about Playing for Change as a source for new music. Especially those who have been fans for a long time and have watched the program evolve.

Was it always this good?

First - "The Levee Breaks" - 2022 (2.5 million YouTube views in its first two weeks!):

Next, "Groove in G" - 2011:

Thirdly, "El Amanacer" - 2018 (Argentina):

And finally, "Natural Mystic/Just a Little Bit" - 2018:

Wowowow. The video quality is astounding. It makes most YouTube stuff look very poor.

 

[Deleted member 21219]

And some others that I like:

 

[BillH]

Thank you for sharing this. I appreciated the exposure to the variety of musicians and thought they did a great job. As a follow up I visited their site - I applaud them for their efforts.
Thanks again

 

[Boris Badinov]

Thanks for sharing, I linked to the site. This version of "when the levee breaks" ranks right up with the album version by LZ, an old favorite and my intro to electric blues.

 

[GD Fan]

Not only a source for new music but also musicians to whom I've had no previous exposure. Love these videos!

 

[Xulonn]

Thanks for sharing, I linked to the site. This version of "when the levee breaks" ranks right up with the album version by LZ, an old favorite and my intro to electric blues.

The women vocalists on that version are incredible - so much soul and passion! And having Led Zeppelin's actual bass player - John Paul Jones - play bass, only adds to the fun.

 

[Xulonn]

Here's a blues tune that I really like. I encourage anyone who enjoys these videos to fire up their audio system - speakers or cans - and spend a couple of hours browsing the Playing for Change playlist on YouTube.

(I am not into music videos that much, but this collection with it's very well recorded live performances from around the world - and even cows in the city in the background in India, clothes drying on the line, and children running around and enjoying the events in some of them - reaches out and touches me. Perhaps A/V systems cannot reproduce traditional live concerts and music events accurately - and indeed, they are not the same thing, no matter how good the cinematography or how perfect the soundtrack is. It is still a recording of a live event designed for a live audience sitting in the same venue. And don't get me sarted on my dislike of lip-synced music videos. But these videos are the real performance - designed for you to be as digitally connected with the musicians as possible.)

 

[Boris Badinov]

I was going thru this thread again and listening to these vids you posted, and they sound even better on my new desktop rig.
Anyway, wanted to say Hi and hope you're doing well.