Chant4Change Brings Interfaith Music to Lincoln Memorial
Washington, D.C.---During this time of political tension, when fear and division dominate our social discourse, a collection of diverse musicians and speakers are offering Chant4Change, a free 10-hour-long festival on October 8, with shared multicultural, multi-denominational voices calling for respect, understanding, and unity at Washington’s famed Lincoln Memorial.
From the same steps where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his powerful, “I Have a Dream,” speech, musicians from a variety of traditions will join community and spiritual leaders in sharing their prayers and messages of inclusion and goodwill. The event hopes to remind the world that mankind can live in harmony together, if we begin by just listening to each other.
“The problems we face today, as Americans and as inhabitants of the earth, cannot be solved alone,” says Gaura Vani, a performer of Hindu devotional music and the principle organizer of Chant4Change. “Music offers a way to come together and to listen to each other, while calling out to a higher power—however we understand that power to be—and asking for help in these difficult times.”
Performers at Chant4Change include the DC favorite and Grammy-winning a cappella group “Sweet Honey In The Rock”; Grammy-nominated Jai Uttal of the devotional bhakti tradition; Kirtan Rabbi of the Jewish tradition; and Fanna-FI Allah, a Sufi Muslim group. (Full list attached below).
Other speakers and MC’s will include Howard Ross, a DC based diversity consultant and frequent guest of National Public Radio, Radhanath Swami, author of the New York Times bestseller, “The Journey Within,” and Vineet Chander, Chaplain for Hindu Life at Princeton University.
The free event runs from 12 noon to 10 PM on Saturday, October 8, at the Lincoln Memorial, 2 Lincoln Memorial Cir NW, Washington, DC 20037.
Multiple organizations are sponsoring the event including the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), in honor of its 50th Anniversary; the Call and Response Foundation; and Yoga Alliance. (A full list is available on the Chant4Change website.)
Social media: #Chant4Change
Twitter: @Chant4Change
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chant4change/
