BENGALURU: Folk-fusion band, Swarathma recently released a spoof video of a pre-flight safety demonstration to drive home the point of refraining from using polythene bags and to encourage cloth bags instead. In the video, the band’s singer and guitarist, Vasu Dixit, is dressed as an air-hostess giving out cheeky messages to highlight the issue. “This was basically a campaign for a brand of bags that are made by women based in Puducherry, who survived the Tsunami of 2004. We did not want to make an instruction video that would seem preachy, high and mighty and indigestible for people,” says Jishnu Dasgupta, the band’s bassist who scripted the video and did the narration.
He adds that the idea was to use humour to make a point. “This is the same way we approach our writing. Songs such as Topiwalla, Yeshu Allah Aur Krishna were conceived in this way, and shows the
essence of our music,” he says.The band was toying with this idea for a long time now, says Jishnu. “We play a lot of shows and are continuously taking flights in the course of which we got the idea. Since June 5 was World Environment Day, we thought it was most relevant to release the video on that day,” he adds.
As part of their other green initiatives, Vasu and Jishnu will also be speaking on art and sustainability at an event on June 7 in Bengaluru.
“We are going to talk about our approach to writing music, and how we handle themes of environment and sustainability,” says Jishnu.The band is not one of those who are fatalistic in their approach to such topics.
“Many paint a doomsday picture, however, we do not want to harp on such issues. I don’t think that is the purpose of our writing. To write a song, we have to feel strongly about something. It’s more about sharing a feeling through a story,” adds Jishnu, who was at the recording studio and “between two base guitar tracks” for their third album, slated to release next month.
Called The Salon
Discussing Art, Sustainability, and the Environment, the talk will take place at the Third Wave Coffee Roasters in Koramangala at 7.30pm today. It will also include a jam session.