TONIGHT
E-mail a friendMark Johnson
airdate August 11, 2009
Mark Johnson is a Grammy-winning producer-engineer and award-winning film director. He's also co-founder of the "Playing for Change" project and board chairman for the foundation of the same name, which works to build music schools and art centers. He has a diverse body of work in the music, film and TV industries, including Bugsy and Rain Man, for which he won Best Picture Oscar and Golden Globe awards. Johnson began his career as an actor and with production assistant gigs and has his own indie production company.
Grammy winner talks about music being one of the few things in the world that can inspire people to believe in each other. (:52)
Full interview. (6:19)
Mark Johnson
Tavis: Mark Johnson is a Grammy-winning producer and engineer who is the driving force behind a unique documentary series called "Playing for Change." The project features over 100 musicians from around the world who are recorded and edited together in a first-of-its-kind production. The latest film is called "Playing for Change: Peace Through Music," airing throughout the month on most PBS stations. Here now, a scene from "Peace Through Music."
[Clip]
Tavis: Mark, nice to meet you.
Mark Johnson: It's an honor to meet you.
Tavis: I'm glad to have you here. What a unique concept. This idea comes from where, came from where?
Johnson: Well, the original idea for this came about 10 years ago. I was working in New York City as a recording engineer and I was on my way to the studio one day in a subway station and I saw two monks painted almond white from head to toe. Both of the monks were playing music. One of them was playing a nylon guitar and the other one was singing.
And on this one day I saw about 200 people stop and everybody was watching this music. Some people are crying and jaw-dropping and I look around and I see a collection of people who normally just run by each other, and here they are coming together because of this music.
And then I got on the train and I went to the studio and it occurred to me the best music I ever heard in my life was on the way to the studio, not in the studio. That's when I realized great music, great art - they're just moments in time. They exist everywhere. And we can use these moments to connect people together.
So that was the idea, was to travel the world with a recording studio and cameras, find great musical moments, and connect them together with songs around the world.
Tavis: One of the things that got my attention when I saw the tape is these gorgeous and wonderful locations that you shot in. Did you find these persons in these - like the guy on the beach, Roger.
Johnson: Roger.
Tavis: You found him in his environment.
Johnson: Yes.
Tavis: You recorded him where he does his thing on the street.
Johnson: Right.
Tavis: For all these other artists, same thing?
Johnson: Right, same kind of process. The idea was, let's record them and film them in their natural environments, where they're the most inspired to play, and where there's no separation between music and people. That's why we do it outside.
In the studio, you close the door. Concerts, you have tickets and a stage. But outside, music happens, somebody plays a song, someone else can walk by, have a life-changing experience. So we just wanted to kind of have that spontaneity in the videos.
Tavis: Let's talk about the larger goal for the project. It's not just about doing something inventive and innovative like recording 100 people in their natural habitats. There's a purpose behind this, and the purpose is?
Johnson: The purpose is to inspire the planet that during a time in the world where there's so much division, so many things separating us, we need to also create things that bring us together. And that we believe that music and inspiration are two great ways to remind us that we're all here together on this planet.
One of the musicians in our film maybe summed it up best. He said, "This world is ours. It's not his or hers or theirs, it's ours." And I think that when we can inspire people to be a part of something bigger than themselves, with music, with these songs, with this project, that it helps us leave the world better than we found it.
Tavis: Talk to me, to your latter point now - and this isn't a lay-up. This really is for me a philosophical question that I in fact debated for years with a friend of mine about the present power of music.
You're putting a lot on the power. You're putting a lot - you got a lot riding on the power and the capacity and the potential of music. Do you think music can do all that?
Johnson: Yeah, I think music is one of the only things in the world that definitely can do all of that, because it gets to the sentiment behind the worlds. So politics and religion can be amazing stuff, but they inherently divide people. Music can get from one heart to another heart so it can overcome all these conflicts and all these divisions and bring us back to where we're all connected, and that's why I think music is the best way to inspire people to start believing in each other and actually share this world.
Tavis: How did you know, how do you know when you're in the engineering booth - you don't have to know this when you're recording, but you do have to know it when you get to the booth, obviously, that these various music genres all tied into the same song are going to work when you lay it down. Does that make sense?
Johnson: Yeah, definitely. A lot of these songs, we kind of made them as we went. Every time we'd leave a location, that part was pretty much finished. Didn't leave a lot of editing for later. Basically had a concept with the musicians of what instruments might work well together and then let a lot of it just happen naturally.
For example, the Zulu Choir in Umlazi, South Africa - we didn't know they were going to sing in Zulu. We thought they'd sing in English. Soon as they started singing in Zulu, much better choice. It was a much better idea, and that opened up all these new opportunities where we can add different languages and make things more natural and not really make them try to be something different than what they were ordinarily wherever they were playing music.
Tavis: You didn't think the Zulu Choir was going to sing in Zulu?
Johnson: (Laughs) Well -
Tavis: Just teasing. (Laughs) I'm just teasing. It's a great project. The project is called - Norman Lear first told me about this, so I'm glad we got a chance to meet. The project is called "Playing for Change: Songs Around the World," a wonderful special playing on most PBS stations this month. Check your local listings for time. Mark, congratulations, glad to have you on the program.
Johnson: Thank you.
Tavis: It's good to see you.
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