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Credit: AP Photo/Siddharth Darshan Kumar
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Sigh. Another song about climate change. This one's going to be a bummer of a musical number. But maybe not. Sure, the situation is dire when it comes to the death grip that fossil fuels and greenhouse gases seem to have on planet Earth. But in a little place call Meghalaya, in northeast India, a popular FM music radio show is making fun of Bryan Adams, and helping people learn about clean energy.
The show is called "Mawsawa," which means a "tone that echoes back" in the local language, called Khasi. In other words, Mawsawa is an imitation or spoof. The joke is on Western music.
"For instance, a Bryan Adams song is sung in the local language but in the same tune, using traditional musical instruments. And the lyrics would be something to do with the environment and climate change," Ian Khongmen, the head of 93.5 Red FM radio, the station that hosts the show, tells Reuters.
The area of India that this state-sponsored radio show reaches (and entertains) includes small remote villages that rely in battery-powered radios for information, rather than TV or the Internet, notes a story on the project, by Teresa Rehman.
Change is in the air.
Local musicians are becoming inspired, including Kit Shangpliang, who was named in The New York Times once for playing at an Indian festival honoring the birth of Bob Dylan. (So maybe he came pre-inspired.)
Kit plays guitar and sings for a band called "Summersalt." The indigenous experimental rockers, fans of social activism set to music, are now including climate change in their playlist.
The FM show goes beyond music, too, engaging listeners to become more familiar and appreciative of their local environments. Last year, for instance, the show aired bird calls and asked people to identify the tweeters to win prizes. There are even characters, like Kong Lor, that talk about environmental problems "with a lot of zest and spectacle," says Khongmen, the station head.
If this can be done in remote Indian villages, how about a rollout in the United States? Did we miss a show out there that does something similar? Let us know. Or, better yet, request some awareness the next time you call your local station. Especially if they air shows with hosts named Glenn and Rush.
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