This past Friday night, a broadcast took over the T.V. airwaves across the globe.  Initiated by George Clooney, the “Hope for Haiti Now” telethon was aired to raise funds in order to assist in Haiti’s relief effort.

During this telethon, throughout the evening, musicians such as Sting, Bruce Springsteen, The Roots, Stevie Wonder, Mary J. Blige, and Jennifer Hudson (just naming a few) were performing. These performances were recorded and  are now being sold as a digital album on such Mp3 stores as iTunes and Amazon Mp3 with 100% of the proceeds  going to the Hope For Haiti Now benefit.

I didn’t get a chance to watch this marathon, however I did get the opportunity to watch the performances after the marathon.  (You can watch these performances at the bottom of this post.) Many times in the past I have watched artists perform live on television.  However, these performances stuck out to me as I found each artist to be performing with transparency and empathy.  I enjoyed listening to the technical flaws in the musicians, revealing levels of vulnerability.  They still strove to perform excellent songs, but they were also revealing an element of their soul and their heartbreak for the losses in Haiti. It was almost as if each musician was performing for a funeral of their friend.  While I am not able to peer into the souls of each musician, these deeply felt performances gave me a glimpse into hearts of each artist, with their empathy, hope, and heartbreak.

Watching this reminded me of a challenge many of us as artists have.  Hopefully, as we take steps to strive for excellence when we perform, we do not lose our concern to create a genuine connection with others.

Where is your soul when you share your art?  When you perform for someone else, are you more concerned with how you are perceived?  Are you consumed with the technical aspects of your performance?  Do you long to express transparency through your art?  What is your priority?

-jonathan