It is not surprising that John chose such conscious songs, or the groove kings of the live conscious hip hop vibe to back him up.  In addition to having the chops and voice to deliver, he is truly an artist who walks the walk, a philanthropist and activist.

His real commitment to supporting social needs with his music can after reading Professor Jeffrey Sachs‘ book, The End of Poverty. Sachs’ observations motivate Legend to visit Ghana to learn more about making life better for the people who live under the poverty line. He then started his own “Show Me Campaign”, calling on his fans to help him in his initiative for those who reside there.

Legend is also the National spokesperson for the “Gentlemen’s Fund”, an initiative to raise support and awareness for five cornerstones essential to men: opportunity, health, education, environment, and justice, as well as for Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT). MLT is a national non-profit organization that has made ground-breaking progress assisting the next generation of African American, Hispanic and Native American leaders in major corporations, non-profit organizations and entrepreneurial ventures.

Below is a video of John and the Roots in a far less intimate, but equally inspiring performance of the albums title track “Wake Up” at the recent World Cup concert in South Africa. You can also watch the official video for the single at www.johnlegend.com.

(pop-u-lar: appealing to or appreciated by a wide range of people)

“Every child is born the same way, not as a conflict of color but as a human being with a role to play on the planet. So we rejoice and do everything to make the future of that child be the best.” –– Angelique Kidjo describing the meaning behind her bilingual pop song “Salala” to collaborator Peter Gabriel.

Judith is beautiful sixteen-year-old Sudanese girl living in Portland, Maine, who, as a younger child and in the arms of her pregnant mother, narrowly escaped the horrors of her war-torn homeland. I’ll never forget the Sunday afternoon when Judith shared her dreams for a more peaceful world and sang for me as a proud member of Pihcintu, a multicultural children’s choir comprised of thirty-five teenage girls (mostly adopted orphans and refugees) from seventeen different countries. I recorded the group as part of a campaign for the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Disability, to raise awareness of the effect of weapons of war and the growing handicapped population in the Middle East. Collaborating with one of the leading Arabic-speaking hip hop artists, a highly educated and socially outspoken MC from Lebanon named Rayess Bek, we created a bilingual song and music video called Just Like You.

Our collective goal was to reach millions of young people across several Arab-speaking countries and help break down some of the stereotypes and misunderstandings that far too often lead to unnecessary violence and cultural divides. We hoped that if people of different cultures could look at each other through the eyes of their children and recognize these same underlying qualities in all children around the world, mutual compassion for one another would increase, leaving us less inclined to view those unseen and misunderstood as the enemy.

During a television interview following the recording, the show’s host asked me this essential question: “In a region wrought with a history of so much war and hatred, can a song really make a difference?”

Can a Song Make a Difference?
We all know that listening to a great piece of music or one of our favorite songs can immediately transform our energy and our state of mind. Hearing even a few bars of a familiar tune can trigger us to recall cherished memories, reopen unhealed wounds or even get up and dance. Music and sound vibration affect our brain, emotional state, sense of identity, nervous system and the health and development of the very cells of our body.

But can music really be a catalyst for helping to influence large groups of people, even entire cultures, in a way that could bring the world into greater balance? Like many, I not only believe it can do so, but I see music as an essential component for the conscious awakening of the human race and the well-being of our planet.

Now, I don’t mean to claim that music can feed the hungry, cure epidemic diseases, reverse overpopulation or prevent global warming. But music can help us as individuals to better cope with these external challenges and inspire us as a global community to come together in a more harmonious fashion.

Pop Music and Our Youth
As a boy growing up in Detroit during the heart of the Motown era, music became my lifeline. From the time I cut my first Jackson 5 single from the back of a cereal box to watching those girls swoon down my elementary school hallway to Al Green’s “Love and Happiness” or wearing out the vinyl on my first copy of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?” the soundtrack to my youth inspired the dream that one day I, too, would touch people’s lives with music.

Although I’ve been blessed to realize that dream many times since then, one poignant moment took place recently in downtown LA’s Staples Center. I was standing offstage for the closing show of the High School Musical Tour, gazing out at nearly 20,000 screaming kids and a few brave parents. The concert opened with teen star Jordan Pruitt singing my title song from the Disney film Jump In! I removed my earplugs (strategically placed before the show to protect me from the piercing volume of the girls’ screams), only to hear thousands of those same young fans singing along to every word and note I had written. Despite any doubts that the challenges of the music industry might have planted in my mind over the years, that moment crystallized for me the undeniable influence of music on young people.

I’m sure most parents can attest to the power of these influences on their own children. You might have a hard time convincing your ten-year-old son or daughter to exercise, learn Yoga, do their homework or clean their room. But you probably will find little resistance to making them listen to hours of their favorite artist’s music, seeing them perform live (happy to lend you my earplugs), or memorizing the lyrics to their songs.

Children and teens are far more receptive to and influenced by the music, media and musical personalities that infuse their lives. While this could prove risky (not all pop stars are to be emulated), I see a tremendous opportunity for using music to help create a better world and a more positive future. From the looks of what we’ve done to the planet, the youth will need all the help they can get.

Music can help young people develop essential tools and internal resources for facing the unforeseen and inevitable challenges that lie ahead. Providing children with music education and opportunities for musical expression, performance and collaboration, offers them a chance to have more developed minds, healthier bodies and a greater sense of personal fulfillment and belonging.

This is being publicly demonstrated on a larger scale by programs like El Systema in Venezuela – a national government-supported system of over one hundred youth orchestras and schools that welcome poor children from every corner of the country. The shining star who rose from that system is the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s recently appointed, and youngest musical director, Gustavo Dudamel. Gustavo, the new pop star of classical music, is committed to setting up a similar system in Los Angeles to positively transform the lives of thousands of children and the experience of classical performance for millions worldwide.

Pop Music Touches Yoga
Popular music has also increasingly made its way into Western adaptations of Yoga. It started with the use of contemporary songs in the teaching of asana practices in Yoga studios to create a more inviting and familiar experience for the Western practitioner. And with the growing popularity of kirtan, an increasing number of kirtan and spiritual music artists have been mixing popular musical forms, harmonies, melodies and even English lyrics, with traditional Sanskrit chants into their shows and recordings. Artists like Deva Premal, Jai Uttal, Dave Stringer, Girish, Wah! and even Krishna Das are expanding their audiences and impact in this way.

To reach and inspire an even broader audience in a new benefit CD I just released – Yoga Revolution, I tried to take the work of these artists one step further. Intentionally blurring any lines of genre distinction, I brought together spiritually-infused songs and cross-cultural collaborations by pop music icons like Sting, Seal, Sheryl Crow, Angelique Kidjo and Sarah McLachlan together with spiritually-based artists like Deva Premal, Guru Singh, Donna De Lory and Snatam Kaur.

Expanding traditional forms to reach larger audiences is a trend that has been occurring for many years in other spiritual genres including Gospel and Christian music, both of which have successfully crossed over into pop culture. The result is two-fold: the music inside spiritual communities is adapting itself to the audience and times to become more accessible, and spiritual principles are reaching the ears, minds and hearts of much larger audiences, slowly shifting the undercurrents of popular culture.

Pop Music goes Global
The new generation of conscious musical stars emerging on the global stages of popular music is especially inspiring to me. Their work is often reminiscent of the great musical messengers who rose up within various cultures and regions of the world during the social movements of the 1960s: artists like Bob Marley, Curtis Mayfield, Bob Dylan, Gilberto Gil, John Lennon or Fela Kuti. This new emergence is truly global, as proudly represented by artists like Somalian refugee K’NAAN (check out his anthem for the upcoming World Cup – “Wavin’ Flag”), Nigerian-born Afro-Soul artist Nneka, African-American superstar and AIDS activist Alicia Keys, Haitian-born artist and producer Wyclef Jean and the Jamaican sons of the late, great Bob Marley himself – Damian and Ziggy. Today’s artist, as a result of the increasing globalization of media and new technology, are able to connect to even larger and more diverse audiences, breaking through traditional barriers of race, class, religion and nationality.

Using What We Know
If science has already proven that positive sound vibration contributes to healthy and balanced development at the cellular level, and if history has clearly demonstrated that conscious and popular musical expressions contribute to the positive transformation of the human spirit, both in the individual and society, then the answer to our question, “Can popular music heal the world?” must be yes.

In my attempt to answer that question, however, I leave you with another: “Now that we have this knowledge available to us, what do we do with it?” I believe we must take action by consciously using music in our own lives, in our children’s education and in the development, celebration and unification of a global community. Music, like any expression of consciousness, becomes increasing relevant when offered for the benefit and evolution of all beings.

A few weeks ago, in my Yoga blog, I wrote about a fantastic all-female Mariachi band I had seen in Taos called Buena Ventura and the great line-up of female artists spreading that powerful feminine energy through their music at Lilith Fair.  Well last night, I had the pleasure of meeting and experiencing the dynamic musical force know as Jenni Rivera.  To a sold-out house of nearly 80% Latino women (Nokia Live Concert Hall, Los Angeles), and backed by an 18 piece big band PLUS a 10 piece Mariachi band, she rocked the house.  The audience was right there with her – singing along and clearly identifying with her justifiably outspoken lyrics that would put any womanizing, weak or disrespectful male right in his place.

But Jenny is not just doing it all for show.  Her story is real (an ex-husband who sexually abused their children and escaped the law), more common than we are willing to believe and something she feels needs to be told.  It is a bold move for a female artist in any genre, but seems particularly rare in Latin Pop Music culture. Jenni is telling her stories for the many women and abused children who have been long been suppressed or simply afraid to tell their own. The fearless candor of Jenny’s lyrics, along with her empowering presence, her unstoppable passion and her incredible voice and performance skills, is building a following of millions, especially women. I would have had to be deaf and blind not to recognize the talent and force in front of me, or feel the power of the collective feminine force all around me. It was a beautiful experience to behold and I expect to hear a lot more about Jenni and a whole new generation of Latin female artists she is likely to inspire.

Despite my being previously in the dark about Jenni Rivera, she is no newcomer to the Latin Music lovers. With the release of her tenth studio album, Jenni (2008), Rivera became the first artist in the history of Billboard Latino to have all of her albums debut at number one on theU.S. Top Latin Albums chart. Rivera has since released a new album titled “La Gran Señora”, her first completely Mariachi album.

Since I opened the world cup with a blog about the musical movement that accompanied the most popular spectator event in the world, I wanted to share one more video of KNAAN’S World Cup theme song – Wavin’ Flag.  This recording captures the story behind a version of the song Bob Ezrin produced with an myriad of great artists,  joined together to support victims of the Haiti earthquake.

However, before we completely leave our focus on South Africa , I wanted to share a little bit about a South African artist I was working with today for an upcoming film project of mine.  Her name is Dilana and the film, a story about an FBI agent who uses her cover as an amazing rock singer to uncover a child pornography ring, is called Silence. I’ll tell you more about Dilana and the film later, since we will be returning to South Africa in the near future.

For now – Check out the Wavin’ Flag video and the power of music for uniting and inspiring people from around the globe.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As much as the festival, the inspiring female performers and the important causes they are supporting, I want to bring your attention to a very special program in the Vancouver area founded by Sarah McLachlan.

Sarah had long dreamed to open a free music school for inner city youth.  Years ago, she started the Sarah Mclachlan foundation in 1999, and her dream became a reality in 2002 with the Sarah Mchlachlan Music Outreach-An Arts Umbrella Project.  I had the opportunity to meet with some of her wonderful staff that run the foundation, and hear some of their stories. The program works to bring music to young under-served Canadians and inspires a relationship with music that will have a lasting impact all aspects of their lives. The school has grown to more than 250 students, grades 3-12, and puts emphasis on public performance to reach out to the community.

What Sarah is doing, in addition to already deeply affecting millions of  lives through her own music, is showing the necessity that teaching our children to create and perform music has an impact on their personal and social development.

Growing up as a kid in Detroit during the end of the Motown Era and depending on music for my own sanity, I can truly identify with Sarah’s dream and her words when she describes what music meant to her as a child.

“I don’t know what I would have done without music in my life. Music was my refuge and solace. It was a friend that was always there for me. The one thing I knew I was really good at. It fed me and kept me going. That feeling hasn’t changed. Music is a gift. It connects us to each other and to ourselves. Through it we share our stories and our emotions, and we create a whole new way of communicating.” -Sarah McLachlan

You can learn more about why, to so many young people in Vancouver, “Music is Life” at http://www.sarahmclachlanmusicoutreach.com/

Hailed by the Vancouver Sun as a “modern day renaissance man, Pete is an award-winning filmmaker, novelist, screenwriter, musician, poet and producer. His most recent film, the award-winning and riveting FACING ALI, is an intimate, inspiring and must-see look at the human side of Muhammad Ali and the culture of boxing. The film tells the story of the inimitable Muhammad Ali and the story of ten legendary champions who fought him—in their own words: Smokin’ Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Ken Norton, George Chuvalo, Leon Spinks, Sir Henry Cooper, Ron Lyle, Earnie Shavers and Ernie Terrell. Pete’s prior film, the award-winning feature documentary Uganda Rising about the plight of the Acholi people in Northern Uganda, was narrated by Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey and features interviews with Noam Chomsky, Betty Bigombe, Samantha Powers, Mahmood Mamdani and others.

Less known on the world stage is Pete’s inspiring work as a singer-songwriter. Not only does his music feed his soul and give him the strength and inspiration to create such powerful socially conscious work in his film and writing work (oh – did I tell you he has also published 2 full novels, successful screenplays, and countless articles and essays), but has deeply touched the hearts of the audiences who have heard Pete perform.

I wanted to share the following video (and original song) from this important voice and unsung hero.  Introducing Pete McCormack…

Proceeds from the sale of the CD will benefit tens of thousands in Southeast Asia who are still struggling to restore their lives in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami. Current projects include alternative, environmentally-friendly livelihood training in Aceh, Indonesia and a community tsunami early warning center in Peraliya, Sri Lanka.

You  can learn more about the great work of Hunter, his partner Andrea and their organization Aid Still Required at www.aidstillrequired.org.

I started my day on a beach in Malibu with an Aztec healer of over 50 generations, trying to learn the meaning of sound in a 5000 year old language based on “Earth Song”. I met Miktlan Ehekateotl Kwauhtlinxan (“Ehe” for short), the subject of a documentary film called Serphant and the Sun, only 2 days ago, but I knew we had to share some time.  Coming from an ancient spiritual tradition that believes in energy and vibration, as opposed to a God figure, as the unifying force of all living entities, and names their culture after the song of earth sings, he was sure to hold some deep insights about sound, music and the way we can influence our experience on the planet through these gifts.  I was not surprised, either, to learn that his first name “Miklan” also meant transformation.

We had a beautiful sunrise walk on the beach listening to the sounds the earth shared with us and sharing the vibrations, history and insights that resonated in our hearts and in our equally passionate and inquisitive minds.

My next musical experience of the day was quite different, but equally inspiring.  I actually spent the past 2 afternoons with Thelonius Monk, Jr, Kevin Eubanks, Roy Hargrove, Tom Carter and MC Supernatural watching the end-of-the-year performances by the students of the Thelonius Monk Institute’s High School Jazz programs.  Today was the true highlight with their very cool Hip Hop and Bebop program finale at Manual Arts High School in inner city Los Angeles.  It inspired me enough to decide to commit the supporting the program for youth with my upcoming EarthTones music and film project – Scenes In Jazz.

Well I guess that makes a good segue to my evening event with my friend, Jazz legend, Chairman of the Thelonious Monk Institute and someone with the level of talent, integrity, and originality that transcends definition – the Honorable Herbie Hancock.  Herbie spoke about the making of his latest musical offering: the Imagine Project, bringing together singers and musicians from around the globe in a beautiful set of collaborations based on the theme of world peace and a common humanity among all of us- a perfect EarthTones fit and wonderful contribution by one of our leading Music Ambassadors.

“Music truly is the universal language,” says Hancock, “The Imagine Project will explore that concept across the globe, uniting a myriad of cultures through song and positive creative expression.  My hope is that the music will serve as a metaphor for the actions taken by the inhabitants of this wonderful planet as a call for world harmony on all levels.”

The CD from Herbie Hancock’s Imagine Project will be out June 21st. Check out the videos for some great inspiring performances by Herbie, Pink, Seal, Chaka Khan, Anoushka Shankar and many more.

Thank you for sharing another musically transformative day with me.

Last Monday, a 5-hour benefit concert and charity show “Artistes 414 Fundraising Campaign” raised $4.8 million for the victims of the April 14th earthquake that rocked China. The 7.1-magnitude earthquake in Yushu county in northwest China’s Qinghai province killed more than 2,200 people.

Chinese stars performing or attending the Hong Kong event Monday evening included singers Sun Nan, Jacky Cheung, Eason Chan, Leon Lai and Joey Yung, along with other celebrities including Andy Lau, Sammo Hung, Do Do Cheng & Jackie Chan.

In the West, we often forget that popular music that we know little or nothing about is active in many cultures – China, India and Africa being huge examples. As technology becomes more and more available – music and film is able to reach more and more people, especially in areas of the world with such huge populations. Whether or not we can relate to the musical styles or understand the languages of the performing artists, we can’t deny their significance when millions of people within those regions are being touched and responding.

The Shanghai expo will introduce many world artists – including our somalian friend K’NAAN and American Jazz greats Herbie Hancock and Dee Dee Bridgewater, to millions of Chinese people for the first time and many Chinese artists to those visiting from around the world.

The opportunity to connect and positively affect the many cultures of the global community through music is growing every day.

Click here to view the embedded video.