Sikh Youth Australia launches Shabad video mosaic collaboration
A collaboration
initiated by Sikh Youth Australia has brought together musicians, singers and
families living in various parts of the world. Titled ‘Mere Naal Hai’, it
provides a message of comfort to everyone during the COVID-19 pandemic.
What started
as a simple idea some weeks ago, soon took shape as a soothing yet powerful
rendition by several families living across the continents.
Claiming it as “a world
first”, volunteers at Sikh Youth Australia have arranged a video collaboration
involving 21 families to record “Mere Naal Hai”. Simply translated, it means
“He is With Me”, and “it serves as a message of comfort and support to everyone
to keep their faith and know that everything will be OK.”
Acclaimed world music exponent, Dya Singh
Acclaimed
world music exponent Dya Singh, who is based in Melbourne, was among the key
collaborators.
Speaking to SBS Punjabi he
said, “Whilst the pandemic has posed many challenges, it has been wonderful to
see the Sikh community helping out in almost every country. Not just that, the
online platform has suddenly emerged as a new way of reaching out to people –
which is something we hadn’t even contemplated earlier.”
He
says the brief from SYA was to produce a five-minute composition and to bring
people together, especially the youth. Within three weeks, “Mere Naal
Hai” was recorded, involving 40 singers and musicians in a virtual
recording.
“Apart from families in
Australia, we had the renowned Veer Manpreet Singh from UK (of Tuhi Tuhi fame), Bhavdeep Singh from
USA and families from New Zealand.”
Biba Arvindpal Kaur
“All
of our musicians are members of SYA living in various parts of Australia. Our
table player was in Perth, the young ladies who played the piano and vibrophone
were from Sydney, my sound engineer who mastered it all lives in Adelaide, and
the project was put together by my daughter Jamel, who is in Melbourne.”
Mr
Singh says “This is the first composition, and there will be more. And I hope
this world first inspires others to collaborate this way too.”
He believes the quarantine
period is also brings immense opportunities.
“This is a time for families
to come together, to spend more time with each other and to interact far more
then ever before.”
“The restriction is only on
physical isolation – not social interaction. Most importantly we must ensure
there’s no spiritual isolation during these challenging times.”
Link:https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/audio/sikh-youth-australia-s-world-first-project
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