Catching up & Checking in, + 7 amazing cross-cultural artists on NFN ONline for Peace Day on Sept 21!

We are thinking of each of you, all over the world, and wondering how you are doing. We have heard from many of you telling us how music has played such a significant role in giving you strength, rest, endurance, peace or uplifting of spirits during this time. That knowledge, in turn, keeps us going, so thank you for sharing your experiences and appreciation! 

 The new monthly NFN Online events organized by Josie Chan have already succeeded in raising considerable funds to help a variety of important causes, so we thank those of you who have attended and/or donated, and we are also very grateful to Ms Chan, who does all of this in her "spare minutes" between being a high school senior and a national award-winning pianist and young LFL artist who has appeared on NPR's radio show "From The Top"! 

 Meanwhile, our newest LFL team member, an amazing young violinist and techie guru Pierce Wang (also a high school senior!) has been working daily with Donna, helping her to create and produce our upcoming NFN Online Concert for this month, which is a very special event honoring International Peace Day on September 21st (or on 21st September, for those of you reading this in some parts of the planet). 

 Up until now, the online concerts have actually been Livestreams, with each of the performers joining in live from their home locations. But for this Peace Day celebration, we have 7 participating artists representing different cultures and instrumental/vocal traditions, all performing a "musical prayer for peace among all peoples, cultures and faith traditions". 

Due to timing, locations and logistics issues on the day, this particular program is being produced and edited into a unique video concert which will be broadcast (for FREE) worldwide, twice on Monday, September 21: 

10am Pacific (USA)/18:00 UK/8pm in Kenya or Middle East, etc 

 5pm PST/ 8pm EST (USA) (ie, 10am following day, 22 Sept, in Australia, for example) 

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The exciting program for our special 70-minute broadcast will be hosted by LFL founder/Artistic Director Donna Stoering, and will include some wonderful LFL artists (in this order): 

 ***Jehnean Washington - Native American vocal chant for peace 

 ***Evan Kahn, classical cellist, playing "Hebrew Prayer" by Bloch 

 ***Naser Musa, Palestinian oud master,singer and composer, doing Arab Christian songs for peace

 ***Faraz Minooei, Iranian santour meditation 

 ***Faisal Zedan, Syrian percussionist, demonstrating various Middle Eastern percussion instruments & rhythmic patterns 

 ***Stephen Guggenheim,Jewish Synagogue cantor, opera star and Broadway singer, chanting two Hebrew songs in honor of Peace Day and also amidst Jewish New Year 

 ***Savita Pereira, young Indian-American composer, giving the world premiere of her new song for peace, involving all of the performers/instruments on the program 

 As with all of our NFN concerts, the performers donate of their time and talents to nourish their audience, and they choose a nonprofit that will benefit from any donations collected during or after their concert. 

For the Sept 21 Peace Day event, your (optional) donations made during this broadcast (through our LFL affiliate Flipcause.org) will benefit two wonderful nonprofits working to build peace among people of different cultures/faiths, particularly in the Middle East, and often using music to do it:

Check out the inspiring work of Interfaith Encounter Association - IEA (Interfaith-Encounter.org) and the "Collective Song" project of RebuildingAlliance.org, bringing stringed instrument lessons to a peace-building youth program in the village of Al Aqaba. 

 Please help us to make an even bigger difference for these two organizations, by spreading the word to all of your family, friends, and colleagues, anywhere on the planet - this is their chance to meet some inspiring individuals, and experience some magical moments of music-making, perhaps hearing instruments, rhythms or sound combinations they haven't encountered before. 

 Want more info about the artists? Upcoming blog posts over these next few days will share their stories, so check back here each day! 

You will also need to check the latest blog posts (or our social media pages) to get the YouTube LINK that will access the Peace Day video concert on September 21. 

 And the SPONSOR for this concert will be TravelsWithMusic.com - it provides a wonderful journey to the cultures of the world, with their master musicians as the tour guides. TWM is also an internationally award-winning resource (now FREE ONLINE) for teaching social studies, geography, ELL, and many other subjects, through the universal "hook" of cross-cultural music videos. If you know anyone seeking exciting alternative resources for online learning at the moment, check it out. 

 So - REMEMBER: Mark your calendars or set an alarm on your smartphones for either of our two broadcast times on September 21! see you then!