10. The number of featured musicians from the video kicking off a 23-date North American tour to promote “peace and community and mindful joy” through music.

6. The number of songs Mark Johnson, co-founder of Playing for Change, the grassroots organization behind the song and tour, listed when asked for his top five songs of all time.

On the eve of the tour I asked Johnson to talk about the group he founded in 2001 and how his effort differs from the time at camp when we all had to hold hands and sing “Kumbaya.”

In the “Stand by Me” video, the performers play alone in often bizarre, seemingly random locations—like the drummer playing on a tiny outdoor balcony in Congo.

We wanted to record the musicians primarily outside where there were no barriers between the music and the people. We asked them to perform in their natural environments, wherever they were most inspired. As far as Junior Kissangwa Mbouta playing his drums on the balcony, he wanted to be outside, and that was our option. Technically, all the musicians are given earphones with the recording of those who played before them. Everyone hears who preceded them on the song, and they add their voice. They sing together.

From these performers you have built a ten-member band that’s heading out for a month-and-a-half-long tour. How did that happen?

“Stand by Me” started with two musicians: Clarence Bekker, out of Amsterdam, and Grandpa Elliott, a renowned New Orleans street performer. Now there will ten performers on the stage, from eight different countries. The idea was to build a global family of musicians–all with their own culture, approach, and motivation–that was capable of uniting audiences and communities. By combining inspiring people with music and allowing people to look at the world in a slightly different way, we’re hoping it leads to transcendence.

A global family? Are you the dad?

Nobody is the dad. This is a family in terms of shared love and inspiration. It’s a unification of culture based on shared respect.

You were a recording engineering working for a major label in New York. What made you start Playing for Change?

Ten years ago I was walking through the subway station on the way to work, and there were these two monks painted entirely white, with white robes, and this nylon guitar. They were singing in a language I couldn’t recognize and had never heard. It was beautiful, and more than 200 people stopped – 200 people on their way to work in New York stopped to listen. Nobody got on the train. I looked around, and people had tears in their eyes and their mouths open.

I realized that the best music I’ve ever heard in my life has been on the way to the studio, not at the studio. I am in awe of the ability of the human race to inspire through creativity and art.

Your goal is to promote peace through music. After the song is over and the dancing is done, how do you know you’ve made an impact?

We asked the musicians we’re involved with how to give back. They wanted to provide hope to kids. We created a foundation. Through it we’ve built three music and art schools in communities with limited resources to support education of any type. We know that some of the places that have suffered the greatest tragedy have some of the greatest art. The schools are in Gugulethu, South Africa; Tintale, Nepal; and Tamale, Ghana.

The school in Gugulethu is in the exact location where a portion of the “Stand by Me” video was filmed.

In meeting musicians from all walks of life, is there a moment that stands out as the core of what you’re trying to accomplish?

In Gugulethu, people are living in what are essentially shacks. There is extreme poverty and disease. HIV is rampant. Pokie, a musician, invited us into his backyard for a concert. It’s an area of intense sorrow, and I wasn’t sure that we should be there. But it turned into a form of an exorcism. Women who had been filled with reservations at our presence flowed out of the houses to dance. It was as if they hadn’t celebrated anything in so long. There was just an incredible joy. They seemed so free.

Everybody in the world has to persevere through something, and therein lies our humanity. If we can tap into that, we can tap into the world.

Why music? How are musicians going to create peace?

There are all kinds of people out there working to make a difference. My mentor, and the amazing musician, Keb’ Mo’, says the important thing is to create inspiration and then to let it take care of itself.

You never know what’s going to inspire somebody, but you have to be involved in something if you want to make change. These musicians get together and inspire one another. Then they get up on the stage, and they have the microphone.

What are your top five songs of all time?

Wow, can I look at my iPod? OK.

1. "Stand by Me," our compilation

2. "Imagine," John Lennon

3. "No Woman, No Cry," Bob Marley

4. "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay," Otis Redding. Any Otis Redding, actually.

5. "Gomni," Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate

6. Wait, I need to get Jimi Hendrix’s "Angel" on there.

Any last words?

We talk about peace on Earth like it’s something to be achieved someday. But everyday there is peace on Earth somewhere. We’re just trying to make it more places than not.

—Aimee Brown

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