Every river needs its songs. Because songs can keep the river alive. Songs plant the river in people’s minds. Helping them understand the river. Songs flow into people’s hearts. Making them care.
When a river dies,
a city’s soul dies.
Pune’s rivers are in a sad state. Their source streams are being killed. Their land is being stolen. Their water is being poisoned. Their flow is being choked. Their fish and forests are vanishing. As the city grows rapidly, somehow we have lost our connection with our life source.
So how do we raise awareness about the urgency to protect what’s being lost? How can create the right action to revive what’s critical? Can we use the power of music to bring people of Pune together and fall in love with their rivers again?
60 Second Songs
A group of like minded people are joining their skills to create short, simple songs and music videos for the rivers of Pune.
If you are a composer, musician, singer, poet, school or college band who would like to be a part of the idea, you can connect with our small collective. As a creative, you are free to create your own song or look for friends to collaborate within our group.
To start off with, our aim is to come up with 7 music videos of 60 seconds each. We will shortlist the most relevant contributions and use our filmmaking skills to turn some of them into visually interesting stories.
Also a filmmaking workshop will be conducted for the collective as well as their friends, so they can also use the river songs for creating new music videos.
*This is a volunteer initiative by concerned citizens of Pune. There is no monetary transaction. All material will created with the ‘Creative Commons’ philosophy: Any person is free to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted. However, selected non-profits working for Pune’s rivers may use the songs in their fundraising efforts.
Sing With Us
Calling all nature minded musicians, singers, music composers, poets, school or college bands to lend in their skills. In case you are excited by the possibilities of this project please fill in the Google form and apply to be a part of the collective.
Songs can be in Hindi, Marathi, English or a mix. They can be longer than 60 sec. but for our project we will choose the most relevant segment of the song.
Timelines:
Mar 2024 – Forming the collective and working on different songs
Apr 2024 – Reaching out to colleges and schools to involve the youth
May 2024 – Filmmaking workshop followed by creating 60 second music videos
June 2024 – Phased release of the songs on various social media platforms
*Please give us a few days post your form submission to get back. Someone from our team will reach out to you soon. Also, do read up on the useful notes given below. They will give you creative ideas for the musical adventure.
**To simply follow the river songs project and catch the music when it flows, join us on Social media: Pune River Revival | Filmkaar
A Note On Pune’s Rivers
Did you know that Pune district is home to 7 different river systems? The rivers are – Mula, Mutha, Ramnadi, Pawana, Indrayani, Bhama and Bhima. Meandering their way through this beautifully verdant and fertile land, these water bodies support a multitude of different living beings. Starting from the majestic western ghats and ending in the vast Indian ocean, these waters have been journeying in time for countless cycles.
Our precious rivers create life wherever they flow, but their future is in deep trouble now.
3 Big Threats
- Unplanned Growth: Rapid increase in population and industry without proper planning has taken a huge toll on our rivers. According to a 2023 report, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has named the Mula and Mutha rivers among the most polluted rivers in the country. (read more)
- Misguided Decision-making: Instead of spending on water treatment plants which clean up sewage and industrial affluents that pollute the rivers, our civic bodies are spending thousands of crores in creating concrete banks for a beautfication project. (read more)
- Climate Change: As the CO2 emissions rise and Earth turns warmer with each passing year, we are going to see erratic weather patterns. These changes pose a high risk to and from our rivers – both as floods and as severe drought. (read more)
Every relationship is based on a single golden rule: give and take. If we only take from our city’s natural environment without giving back, it is going to break the relationship very soon.
Our rivers face many challenges, but the greatest one is that we have given up listening to them. In our busy lives we stopped paying attention to what they are trying to tell us. We have forgotten how to hear their stories and songs.
Every river is a song
Every song is a river
What Every River Needs
If we wish to keep our rivers alive we need to treat them as living entities that have rights just like humans. Creating legal rights for the rivers will go a long way in ensuring their protection and continuous flow. So what are the rights that every river needs? Here are the 3 most important ones:
Right to its land
Wherever the river flows, it should be allowed to keep its land. No construction or buildings should come up in areas where the river’s water has pass through in the last 5 years. Rivers and their floodplains help soak up excessive rains, thereby reducing flooding intensity, sometimes even preventing it.
Right to clean, continuous flow
When allowed to flow unfettered and pure, rivers provide bare essentials of clean drinking water for everyone. Rivers help maintain a balance with groundwater recharge, enabling cultivation of food as well as water availability during water scarcity and drought.
Right to health
A river is healthy when all beings that rely on the river are healthy. A river devoid of life is a dead river. Therefore, we have to ensure that rivers are living ecosystems that support various elements of nature, not just humans. The health of our rivers is linked to the health of our society. When a river dies, the soul of a city dies with it.
To stay updated on this project you can follow us on social media or join our newsletter. Please do help us spread the word and reach out to people who can add value to this work.
Please help us spread the word.
Our songs will be your songs too.
Filmkaar 