Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Before the pandemic, multi-disciplinary artiste Soumik Datta released Jangal, an album in response to deforestation. That led him to Earth Day Network—a global organisation that raises awareness about climate change. They made Soumik an ambassador and he began a deeper journey into environmental campaigns.
Sometime during the lockdown, Soumik wrote a short story about Asha, a young climate refugee from Bengal who searches for her father across the world, through burning forests and rising oceans.
In February this year, he won a British Council Climate Change creative commission to develop a film and music project Songs of Earth in partnership with Earth Day Network. Both the film and the album released on November 2. “Asha has lived with me for many months now. It feels wonderful to share her story,” shares Datta.
The opening montage and music is evocative yet enjoyable. Tell us about the composition?
Each song in the film [and the album] relates to a specific environmental issue. The lyrics of Oceans Rising talk about the increased surface temperature of the earth while Fields of Hope addresses deforestation and animal endangerment. There’s also Chemical Design that comments on the carbon footprint of the fashion industry. I wanted to write the songs in a way that wouldn’t detract from their musicality but would hold layers of meaning for different kinds of listeners.
How did you conceive the animated character Asha?
Asha means ‘hope’ in Hindi and Bengali, and hope is indeed the key here. We have to be motivated not by fear of climate change but by the hope of a better future. Music and stories have the ability to evoke this feeling, despite the overwhelming and depressing statistics surrounding the climate crisis.
Are you planning on more films?
My mother is a film director and so is my brother. So, I’m not trying to become another one in the family! But as a creative person, I’m interested in all kinds of media—music, spoken word, film, dance, theatre, graphics, animation, VR—and I love collaborating with specialists who can bring ideas to life through these mediums.
Your upcoming projects?
Currently, I’m working on a new show that will address immigration, mental health issues, and the refugee crisis. It’s ambitious and will release at London’s Southbank Centre, and will be streamed globally.
Streaming on YouTube
