Dreams of Kirina
By: Mark
Johnson
Dreaming the dream of a better tomorrow through
musical education may not always seem the
sexiest way of bringing about a revolution. But
as Mark Johnson¡¯s Playing For Change
organization is aware, it can have the most
longlasting, life-affirming of all radical
results.
When we
think about the role of dreams in our lives,
they serve as both the places we go when we shut
our eyes as well as the hopes and aspirations we
hold for the future of our loved ones and
ourselves. Playing For Change began as a dream
to create something that could be full of
positivity and inspiration for the human race.
We have found that music is the greatest tool on
earth for us to achieve our vision of a better
world for everyone.
Playing For
Change recently visited the village of Kirina,
Mali, where we found the heart and soul of our
dream in a place with music at its core. Kirina
is an ancient village with about 1,000
residents, all of who are descendents of
musicians, many of them over 75 generations in
the same spot. They have no running water or
electricity, but enough soul to brighten all of
humanity and bring a smile to our face. Kirina
is also the home of the newest Playing For
Change Music School. (Ecole de Musique de Kirina).
When the villagers heard we where coming to
visit them to discuss the idea for the new
school, they told us they had dreamed we would
come, and they are prepared to join us on our
journey to preserve their past and create a
brighter future together.
We
arrived in Kirina and were greeted with a
musical parade and songs from the villagers. We
gave gifts to the elders and were granted
permission for the musicians to perform music
for the village chief under the mango tree. I
swear if ever humanity has shined a light it was
on this day!! The elders from the village had
donated land for us to build our new music
school and this day was an opportunity to
celebrate the great future we all share
together. In this very location we started the
work on our newly finished PFC 2 CD/DVD ¡°Songs
around the world¡±. Deep in the heart of
humanity we hear the words, ¡°Every little thing
is gonna be alright¡±. The more time I spend in
Africa the more I believe the sentiment of these
words. I have never seen a place with more love
and music than Africa and these are the two most
likely things to inspire us to unite in a
positive way as a human race.
The
music school in Kirina is now finished and
educates hundreds of children in the village.
This is just the beginning. Playing For Change
is also working on music programs in Ghana,
South Africa and Rwanda and our dream is to
connect all the children around the world
together so that we join hands in creating a
better future, one heart and one song at a time.
Together we can make dreams come true and we
will always know that there is a place where
music and inspiration are passed on from
generation to generation for the betterment of
all of humanity. In the great words of Willie
Wonka, ¡°We are the dreamers of dreams, we are
the music makers.¡±
One
Love, Mark Johnson
Àοë :
D'accord! |
