BENGALURU: Musicians Bindu and Ambi Subramaniam, children of popular violinist Padma Shree L Subramaniam were recently chosen by the United Nations to represent India in the 10,000 deeds campaign to aid UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
The two musicians have been involved with music education, and work with over 20,000 children, providing music education in schools through their SaPa (Subramaniam Academy of Performing Arts) in schools. “It has always been our objective to use music as a platform to empower young children, and the 10,000 deeds campaign is an idea we came up with,” adds Bindu.
The initiative aims to foster awareness and create a culture of responsibility among children, thus encouraging them to become more dutiful citizens, says Ambi. As part of the UN’s Sustainable
Development Goals programme, there are 17 objectives to be fulfilled by 2030 such as no poverty, gender equality, clean water, and so on.
“SaPa plans to accelerate efforts in this direction through a campaign that captures 10,000 individual deeds done by children to achieve these objectives. We will conduct workshops at our partner schools to add a cultural element to the initiative and inspire children to take positive action,” says Ambi.
As part of their campaign, a song and a video called ‘Million Dreams’ has also been released. “This song conveys perfectly the message of the campaign, which is, a million dreams for the world we’re going to make. Each student commits to one positive, concrete action that improves the world around them, from conserving water, paper, and energy to reducing food waste,” says Ambi.
The duo has collaborated with Mahesh Raghvan, another musician for the song. Calling themselves 'The Thair Saadam Project', they began by covering popular songs. “When Mahesh was over at our house, he saw the brochure for the 10,000 deeds campaign and was totally on board to be a part of it. So we decided to work together and make a theme song. Working with Ambi and Mahesh is always great, and getting the kids involved made it more special,” says Bindu.
The musicians also worked with 30 kids from SaPa and the Immadihalli government school who also feature in the song. “We spent a day with the kids, painting a mural on the wall of the school, with the message ‘a million dreams’.
The artwork was completely designed by the kids,” says Bindu. This song will be used to promote the United Nations’ Global Goals in schools across not only Bengaluru but also Chennai, and other cities. “Our project is a confluence of influences and learning. This particular song brings our 3 initiatives together – The Thair Saadam Project, 10,000 deeds and SaPa in Schools, which is another reason why it’s very special to us,” says Ambi.