Kurt Vonnegut, interviewed on the DVD: Music is, to me, proof of the existence of God. It is so extraordinarily full of magic, and in tough times of my life I can listen to music and it makes such a difference.

I first encountered this project in the February, 2003 issue of Sound on Sound Magazine. Duncan Bridgeman had called Matt Bell, one of the SOS editors, to see if the mag was interested in doing an article about his plan:

…he was taking a friend and embarking on a round-the-world trip, from the jungles of Africa to the streets of New York by way of India and Australasia, and planning to record any musicians he could find on the way into his Apple Powerbook, using it as a fully fledged multitrack recording studio. His intention thereby, he claimed, was to create a CD, DVD, and documentary film, all three of which would provide a snapshot of mankind at the turn of the new Millennium, and form a vast multimedia project designed to, as he put it, “celebrate the unity and the diversity of humanity”.

Everything fell into place. Duncan Bridgeman was clearly completely mad.

As a home musician, I find the entire SOS article fascinating.

Here’s the vid for ‘My Culture‘, which was the breakout track that emerged:

It’s even science fiction, guys!

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The project reached the public in April of 2002. Duncan and his partner Jamie Catto had done everything they planned, and more. They recorded and filmed people on five continents, playing their music, singing their songs, then went back home and mixed it, blending together the efforts of people in wildly different cultures, many of whom had never met, to create something wondrous. They interviewed lots of famous and not-famous people, got some Big Names in the Music Biz to join in the effort, and made it a hit, ending up with two Grammy nominations.

I bought myself the CD, and was given the DVD by a sweet lady-friend named Connie. The DVD contains four tracks that didn’t make it onto the CD. I will refund your money if you buy either of these and feel that you didn’t receive value worth the cost, in time and lucre. There is some astonishing musicianship on display here.

(Uh, wait. One caveat. If you’re the kind of person who hates them fuzzy-minded folks who believe that people are more important than corporate profit, or if you believe that everything and everyone in the world should rightfully be exploited to destruction for your personal benefit and comfort, you might not enjoy some of the wacky left-wing politics on the DVD. In which case, you can have my pity for your failure as a human being, but not my money.)

Sometimes, when I’m feeling lonely and crazy and and alienated from all the other insane monkeys, I play the album or rewatch the movie, and I am reminded that we are all connected to each other.

Even more difficult for me sometimes — It reminds me that joy is possible for us all, and in fact, may be our natural state.

This is music that I visit again and again.

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‘Braided Hair‘ with Neneh Cherry.

‘The Way You Dream’ with Michael Stipe and Asha Bhosle

The Wiki, of course.

The 1 Giant Leap website.

The site for the follow-up project, 2sides2everything, which is currently in post-production. Supposed to come out late this year.