When my friend sent me the link to the Stand by Me cover of the Ben E. King classic a small alarm went on in my head.

Playing For Change | Song Around The World “Stand By Me” from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

Oh no, another “We are the World Medley” to suffer through. Don’t get me wrong Momo appreciates charity work as much as the next guy. Raising funds for a troubled continent is noble. As you may recall that effort had many a music superstar contribute to the effort led in large part by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie. Sorry, the sappy tune was not my cup of tea and we all got bombarded with it for months. Agghh!

Not so here. Playing for Change is an effort by primarily film makers to bring the world together through music. The site explains the inspiration:

Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world.

The “Stand by Me” video is wonderfully produced and edited on a journey around the world. The video is from the award-winning documentary “Playing For Change: Peace Through Music”. It is the first of many “songs around the world” being released independently.

Give it a listen.

There is another video from this series which I like too (I am a sucker for the sitar)…a version of Bob Marley’s One Love.

Listen to them all. No duds yet heard yet! Powerful! See if they move YOU!

Tony Momo - Listen up world!

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