TOOTS of Toots & the Maytals recently joined the Playing for Change band and guests including Ziggy Marley at Club Nokia in LA for a special night to raise money for a learning centre in Jamaica.

Toots and the Toots Foundation expressed plesure at being able to collaborate with the Playing for Change Foundation to reach the shared goal of building a learning centre in Jamaica.

“This is a great musical movement for change and the Toots Foundation is happy to be a part of this special effort to benefit Jamaican children,” Toots said.

The talented musicians that comprise the Playing For Change Band hail from Africa, Europe, North and South America and are united in the belief that music can change the world. Innovative videos including Stand By Me and Bob Marley’s One Love and War/No More Trouble, have become YouTube phenomena with over 30 million hits since their release.

The Toots Foundation, formed five years ago with the goal of helping the less fortunate in Jamaica, especially children, has raised funds through a one dollar donation channeled from each Toots & the Maytals show ticket. In the past, the foundation has donated to Jamaican charities including the Jamaican Cancer Society, Bustamante Children’s Hospital, Victoria Jubilee Hospital, the Salvation Army School for the Blind and the May Pen Primary School where Toots attended as a child.

The Playing for Change Foundation began as a project in San Diego and has already built three music schools around the world in Gugulethu, South Africa and breaking ground on two others: one in Tintale Village, Nepal; the other in Tamale, Ghana.

The website, playingforchange.com, gives interesting information on on the Playing For Change: Songs Around The World, deluxe edition, featuring the award-winning, previously unavailable full-length documentary film, Peace Through Music.