By Bo Emerson

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The late journalist Daniel Pearl, murdered by al-Qaeda terrorists seven years ago, would have been 46 on Saturday. On his birthday he probably would have been doing what he loved most – making music.

There will be plenty of music made in his honor, however, courtesy of a network of friends and admirers that now extends around the globe.

During the month of October at least 850 performances, from Atlanta to Pakistan, will be dedicated to Pearl, who lived his life on the road and made a home out of music wherever he landed. Daniel Pearl World Music Days is coordinated by the Daniel Pearl Foundation, and it has endorsements from such musicians as REM, Elton John and Herbie Hancock.

One of those performances, by a Massachusetts-based group called Friends of Daniel Pearl, will take place Saturday at the Candler Park Fall Fest in Atlanta.

Pearl made connections with local musicians when he worked in the Wall Street Journal’s Atlanta bureau from 1990-1993, playing bluesy violin with such groups as the Cosmic Gypsies, the Ottoman Empire and Wild West Picture Show.

"He answered an ad I had in Creative Loafing looking for a fiddle player," said Todd Mack, a guitarist and founder of Cosmic Gypsies.  "He was the kind of guy, wherever he was, he would go sign up at jam sessions, and poke around in the local music scene. He took that model with him when he started travelling around, like in Southeast Asia."

After Pearl was murdered, Mack (who had relocated to the Berkshires in Massachusetts) began hosting a Friends of Daniel Pearl Festival -- FODfest for short -- in his back yard, and then, on a limited tour, to places where Pearl had lived. This year the tour travels through Atlanta and Chicago and also makes a week-long digression to Taiwan.

All FODfest concerts are free to the public and are performed by musicians donating their time.

"I have a musician flying to Taiwan to do the Taiwan tour on her own dime, to be part of the experience," said Mack. "Danny viewed music as a sort of way of bring people together, a universal language, a means to get people to the table. That's what [FODfest] is promoting: strengthening people through music, bringing them together regardless of the differences between them."

Clay Harper, co-founder of the Fellini’s Pizza chain and the prime mover behind a handful of Atlanta bands, including the Coolies and the Ottoman Empire, recruited Pearl to play with one incarnation of the Ottomans. The groups featured accordion, acoustic guitars and an Americana sound.

"We played the coffee house circuit and played some big shows and did a bunch of gigs at the Variety [Playhouse," said Harper. "We opened for Taj Mahal, but the biggest and by far the most exciting was opening for the Kinks at the Rialto."

Harper said he admired Pearl's wide-eyed approach to the rock and roll world: "He was refreshingly wholesome in a decidedly unwholesome environment."

Friends of Daniel Pearl, 3:30 p.m., Sat., Oct. 10, free, Candler Park Fall Fest, inside Candler Park at the corner of McLendon Avenue and Candler Park Drive; festival runs 11-8 Saturday and noon-8 Sunday; www.candlerparkfallfest.org/