"I thought I Knew..."

I think it is impossible to have been a teenager during the 70s or 80s and not know about Up With People, a touring group of performers, mostly young people, who sing and dance and carry a message of peace, unity, understanding, and all those wonderful ideals. When I was a teenager, my family hosted two young women who toured with the group when they came to my town. I actually know two young men who each spent a year with the group. So I thought I knew all about Up With People. They were idealistic, pleasant, talented, but a little hokey and naive. Wow. Did I ever not know what the group was really all about. This book was an incredible eye-opener for me. It's truly inspirational, and I don't like inspirational books. In fact, I find them annoying. So when I say I found this inspirational, that's saying something.

Up With People was started by four young men. Three brothers, Steve, Paul, and Ralph Colwell, along with Herb Allen, put together a program that was designed to send out touring groups around the USA and the world to bring a message about human unity.

What I didn't know about those men was enormous. The Colwell brothers had formed a trio when they were literally children. The youngest (playing a bass taller than he was) was 10. They played blue grass and country music, and they gained some popularity and put out some records.

Herb Allen was a musical prodigy. At four he was the conductor of the Seattle Baby Orchestra. He played the xylophone, and was just an outstanding musician.

These four met through a group called Moral Re-Armament (MRA), which was a non-profit international organization dedicated to bringing about moral change. It operated on the basis that you can't change the world, but you can change one person at a time, and that will change the world.

The Colwells became very involved with this group, traveling all around the world playing music. They had a unique ability to quickly write songs that would appeal to the specific group they were performing for, and worked with translators so they could perform in dialects of various languages.

One of the most astounding facts about them was their involvement in the independence of the Congo. They were in the country to perform when the Belgians relinquished their control of the county. Pretty much immediately civil war broke out because of the tribal conflicts and the struggle for power among men with very different ideas of how the country should move forward.

For a year, the Colwells remained in the Congo and performed songs on the radio urging peace and unity in the country. They sang in all the varying dialects of the tribes, and they wrote a song, "Vive Le Congo!" that became an anthem in the country during the time of struggle.

Herb Allen also worked with the MRA and when he and the Colwells decided to form a new organization that would carry on the same mission, but would allow them to travel less (they were all marrying and starting families), they began a program that continues to this day.

Up With People was the first American group to perform in China after the Cultural Revolution. The USA had no diplomatic relations with China, so their tour was arranged by and coordinated in cooperation with people from Mexico and the Venezuelan Ambassador to Mexico.

They continued to break through cultural barriers, performing in the Soviet Union and other Eastern Block countries long before Peristroka came to be.

So yes, if you look at Up With People superficially, with that jaundiced and cynical American eye that says, "Ooo, yeah, up with people..." you will only see that.

But if you read this book, you will realize that what these men accomplished is amazing. Music truly is the language of the world.

Reviewed by Sarah Bewley for MyShelf.com, 2008

http://www.myshelf.com/biography/08/songfortheworld.htm

"The World Needs More Books Like This One"

Review by Raymond Fowlie

A Song For The World is a book about the amazing lives of the famous Colwell Brothers and Herb Allen who spent the bulk of their adult lives touring the world on a mission of musical diplomacy that affected the very fabric of society as we know it. These four men formed the musical revolution known as "Up With People" which has touched people the world over. Its message of peace is one that rings as true today as it did decades ago when the group was formed.

The book begins with what is probably the group's most famed and publicized production, the half-time show of Super Bowl X. Up until this point in time, the half-time show for the Super Bowl had always resembled the half-time show of a high-school football game. Marching bands forming shapes and playing songs. When the NFL wanted to change this image, they called "Up With People." Even though they were allowed minimal rehearsal time and were asked to perform a feat no one had ever accomplished, the show was a huge success and really put the group on the map.

The book goes onto chronicle the long trail of international engagements that the group participates in. From war-torn Africa to behind the closed walls of China "Up With People" is asked to perform on goodwill missions that reach every corner of the globe and touch the lives of countless people. The best part is that through McGee's amazing writing, we feel as though we are there every step of the way.

One really engaging thing that this book does is that in the beginning of every chapter we are introduced to a composition that one of the main characters has written. Not only are we along for this wild ride, we are also allowed to look into the creative process of geniuses who truly affected the world. These men put their personal lives on the back burner pouring their hearts and souls into their work. Rarely were these individuals paid and none of them married until much later in their lives.

The dedication that these men showed in attempting to affect change in the world is truly awe-inspiring. Many people see problems in the world, but few are truly willing to right the wrongs that they witness. These gentlemen put forth a model for sparking true social change that is replicable by any who feel that the world around them can, and should be changed for the betterment of us all. We all feel deep down somewhere that there is something wrong with the society around us. These four men felt this and then did something about it.

This book is an easy, fun read chock full of pictures of Up With People's journeys around the globe. It gives the reader a sense of the truly remarkable accomplishments that can be achieved with a little bit of talent and a lot of desire. I would recommend this book to almost anyone because it has something for everyone. The world needs more books like this one; and more people like these men.

“Informative, interesting, and compelling”

Award-winning author Frank McGee has compiled this remarkable story…. from hundreds of letters, documents, and scores of interviews. This is the story of the Colwell Brothers and Herb Allen, musical diplomats to the world.

As entertainers and songwriters they demonstrated courage, commitment and vision, leaving behind the comforts of home, promising careers, and budding romances to introduce a new concept for changing the world through the power of music. They touched the lives of millions worldwide with their songs…. written in dozens of languages and dialects.

The format of the book is eye-catching in design with hundreds of photos, giving detailed descriptions of the location, the events, or persons…. I personally enjoyed “The Amazing Music History Quiz” at the end of the book, which highlights some of their early audacious adventures…. McGee’s writing is informative, interesting, and compelling. “A Song for the World” is a book for anyone who wants to impact change in today’s world.

Reviewed by Richard R Blake for Reader Views (7-07)

Read the full review...

"BRAGGING RIGHTS"

by Simon Barrett

We live in an information-overloaded society, yet we actually know so little. While I was reading this book I took a straw poll of some people I know, and 100% of them had no idea who the Colwell brothers, or Herb Allen are. So much information, yet so little knowledge is a real problem in today’s world. The three ‘cowboy brothers’ and Herb, probably did more for world peace, or at least peaceful co-existence than any President, or any government organization has ever done. Frank McGee has produced a great book that chronicles the story of these eclectic individuals. Even better the book is peppered with photographs of the actual people and events.

The story starts right after WWII…

There are very few musicians that have the bragging rights that these guys have… This is a fascinating read…
A Song For The World is well worth the price of admission, and should be on everyone’s reading list for the summer.

Read the full review: http://www.bloggernews.net/18264

WHAT A GREAT LIFE ADVENTURE!

For those of us who have had the honor to be alumni of UP WITH PEOPLE (or those who were part of the numerous Sing-Outs throughout the world), The Colwell Brothers and Herb Allen are legends. They have collaborated on hundreds of songs that will live forever in our memories. I have admired these men for decades, but beyond their involvement with UWP, I knew little about their life stories. This incredible book provides their backgrounds that few of us knew. Paul, Ralph, Steve and Ted Colwell (along with their "adopted sibling Herb Allen) have toured the world with their music... and in doing so, influenced the lives and cultures of everyone in our global community. The book is easy and exciting reading, and loaded with many pictures. Theirs is an incredible story that should appeal to EVERYONE, not just those of us who were in UP WITH PEOPLE! Author Frank McGee (himself an alumni of the program from early on) has done a remarkable job capturing the lives of these incredible musicians, whom I have hero-worshipped forever. This book is a must!

From Amazon Review by Hutch “Trampyre,” Las Vegas, Nevada, USA February, 2007

SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT

by Michael Henderson

December 2006

IN MY last column I pay tribute to three American brothers whom I first met in a Hollywood theatre more than 50 years ago. Any history of Initiatives of Change might have one chapter headed ‘the Colwell years’. Their contribution to this work for reconciliation is unknown to today’s generation but they once played a vital, inspiring and often taken-for-granted role. It was a time when theatre and music was central to the way MRA, as it then was, communicated its message. They were star performers.

Theirs was much more than the fashionable celebrity role of today. They modelled a commitment and selflessness that comes to the fore in a fine new portrait of their lives by Frank McGee—A Song for the World (ISBN: 0-9787948-1-8): ‘They literally walked away from their childhoods, comfort, careers and loved ones. They put it all on the line for something they believed.’

Even in their pre-teens in California, Paul, Ralph and Steve Colwell were skilled Western singers with guitars, banjo, mandolin and bass, and were probably the youngest-ever trio with a major label, Columbia Records. They were on their way to stardom with national radio audiences when in 1951 they attended a performance of MRA’s Jotham Valley, a musical based on a true story about reconciliation in the Western United States. They were intrigued, Paul remembers, by the sense of purpose they met in the cast. ‘Something in me responded to helping in a programme that was bigger than my small world,’ says Steve.

Two years later they arrived at MRA’s conference centre in Caux, Switzerland, and the rapturous response to their performances on Swiss national day proved their potential to inspire a universal response. It was also the beginning of a life-long collaboration with another American musical prodigy, Herbie Allen, also featured in the book.

The Colwell’s first song in a language other than their own was written for the visit to Caux that summer of French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman. They would go on to sing in 37 languages. Their biographer writes, ‘They made it look easy to write songs on the road, rehearse them on the fly, and sing them in dialects and languages they had barely heard before. They never complained, though it took sacrifice, determination, and, most of all, courage.’ They overcame health problems, in Paul’s case asthma.

Their lyrics were cheerful, humorous and often challenging: opening people’s hearts to new perspectives on the world and to rethinking their own attitudes and behaviour. One song that comes to mind is their tonguein- cheek Isn’t it terribly sad that I’m so good and the world’s so bad.

Frank Buchman, MRA’s initiator, invited them to accompany him and a party through Asia where they sang to dignatories ranging from the Governor General of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to the King of the Maori people of New Zealand, from the Prime Ministers of Japan, Thailand, and Burma to the President of the Philippines. Chapters in the book include their hours with the Indian philosopher and land reformer, Vinoba Bhave, and the notable part played in dangerous days in the Congo where they did more than 400 radio broadcasts and sang at the Independence celebrations in 1960.

After more than a decade singing in Asia and Africa they returned to the US in 1964. Here they were ready for another challenging development, the launching of Up With People which became one of the world’s longestrunning musical productions, giving thousands of young people an unforgettable grounding in life.

To learn more about them, about Herbie Allen, about their remarkable wives and faithful parents, you’ll have to read the book: ‘Through it all, the Colwell Brothers and Herb Allen relentlessly pursued the purpose of humanity. Their dedication and dreams touched the heart of a planet, set it beating to the rhythm of their music, and started its people marching to a greater vision of possibility. Such is the power of their music.’

Indian academic Rajmohan Gandhi writes, ‘When inspired genius is willing to renounce ease and glory for the sake of something greater, the impact is huge. This is the lesson of the incredible Colwell/Allen story. I thank God for them, and I thank them for adding memorably to my stock of faith and hope.’

Michael Henderson is the author of ‘Forgiveness: breaking the chain of hate’, Grosvenor Books, 2002, ISBN 1-85239-031-X - www.michaelhenderson.org.uk

Reprinted from - For A Change Magazine