Students of St Peter's International School in Kodaikanal are perhaps amongst the first school choir group to upload a song titled "Never lose hope" on YouTube. Their aim is to offer solace to so many people out there who are anxious about the pandemic.
Fourteen students of the school choir group, studying in classes eight to 12, wrote a song that, they hoped, would foster the sense of human connection.
The idea of sharing their feelings and thoughts in the midst of uncertainties was born when the news of the pandemic started breaking in by January-end. Creative Arts Head Rashmika S, stayed with them as they wrote and rewrote many drafts until the emotional song was born.
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With the help of two of their music teachers, the students started recording and shooting for the song on their school campus in the verdant Kodai hills. Luckily, they finished just before the lockdown was announced and the school shut down on March 22.
After the final editing, it was uploaded on YouTube and the school's Facebook page on the night of March 31 and has been widely shared since. The team of students who wrote the lyrics, composed the music, sang and recorded for the video are a mix of NRI students from Singapore, South Africa and France, besides Delhi, Assam, Mizoran and Tamil Nadu and a student from South Korea who could not take a flight back home.
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The video starts on a sombre note showing a student sitting alone on a long winding pathway and asking "Tell me why the streets are empty, tell me why I can't meet my friends". It then takes the viewers through snap shots of school life and happy children who are responsible enough to understand the grimness of the current situation and the preventive measures they are supposed to take.
"The children wrote the lyrics and kept the music simple playing a guitar and the keyboard for background score," says Rohan Sam Babu, the school prinicipal.
The focus is on the words to build a sense of togetherness in these strange times. Even though the world is locked down and scary for the moment, the storm is not forever and that it is just a passing cloud.
The teenagers give a soulful rendition. Will the world be the same again, is the question they ask in the song. They sing about being the good stewards of Earth and to learn from past mistakes to be able to stand tall in this fight against the pandemic.
"We want to send out a positive message to the people, majority of whom are on a panic-mode," says Rashmika. adding that when the message comes from children, “It works as a potent relaxant.”
In Bengaluru too, Keertana Bhoopal , the lead singer of the band Ketonation that played in the city's music bars, is keeping hopes afloat by uploading her songs on instagram.
The first one was after the Janata curfew when people came out to make a noise for thedoctors and health workers who were in the frontline of the battle . She wrote a few lines to remind people to express their gratitude — whether they are quarantined, or in isolation or afraid. She asks everybody to remain thankful to the doctors and nurses and do the dougie using her song whenever they want.
"It is important to keep repeating a message that is good for everybody's safety," says Keertana, who also roped in her father and sang a duet with him of her favourite Bob Marley’s Redemption Song. And now she is collaborating with musicians to upload more numbers in the coming days .
In any crisis situation, you can find your own song to stay calm, says Keertana who has studied Popular Music Performance from Singapore's College of Art. She's locked down in Hyderabad and hopes to keep boredom at bay with songs.
(EOM)