If there is poetry in my book about the sea,
it is not because I deliberately put it there,
but because no one could write truthfully about the sea and leave out the poetry.
- Rachel Carson, scientist, ecologist, and author of 'The Edge of the Sea'.
Songs about our favourite habitats!
Seagrass Blue Carbon Blues by Gary Cox
A song about how seagrass captures and sucks up the "bad gas", carbon dioxide, yeah! Lyrics by Bill Dennison. Inspired by the Australian Seagrass Habitats: Conditions and Threats Workgroup. Read Bill Dennison's explanation for how this song came about here.
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Out on the Coral Reef by Brent Holmes
A fun reggae song about coral reefs, found on the "Sea Tunes for Kids" CD and DVD by Brent Holmes. Check out his work!
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The Fishes in the Seagrass
(Wheels on the Bus Remake) A quirky seagrass inspired version of the children's classic tune, 'Wheels on the bus'. Music by Rebecca Cullen, lyrics by Richard Unsworth, and animation by Amy Bruning.
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The philosophy of being soft
Offers wisdom to their survival
Every time waves drift by
Sea grass dances like ribbons
Swaying like open arms
Welcoming all
Emerald green world
Boom and thrive
Propping up like cozy beds
On the ocean floor
- an excerpt from Dongsha: the Blue Coral Sea, the Marine National Park Headquarters, Taiwan
Celebrating the Ocean through Music
Excerpt from Mantera Nelayan (Fisherman's Spell) by Jillian OoiThis Malay gamelan piece evokes imageries of the ocean and fishermen at work in the sea - pushing their boats off the beach at dawn, steering, sailing, heading for their fishing spots, pulling up empty nets and finally, the fishermen join their voices in a traditional mantra asking for bounty and for protection from the Spirits of the Sea.
Parts of the lyrics are derived from actual spells/incantations documented so well by Haron Daud in his Ulit Mayang: Kumpulan Mantera Melayu (1999). Some liberty has been taken with the words to avoid invoking the spirits referenced in the original incantation. Composed by Jillian Ooi, music directed by Jillian Ooi, artistic directed by Loh Kok Man, produced by Rhythm in Bronze, and premiered in Arus Gangsa, 2014. Rhythm in Bronze is joined on stage by singers, Terence Au, Dominic Luk, Michael Chen, Ollie Johansen, and Santosh Logandran, with I Gede Aguswin Pradnyantika on Balinese gendang, and Khairul Khalil on Malay gendang. |
The sea, from water it comes |
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Return by Adilah JunidReturn is a contemporary Malay gamelan composition that depicts the journey of water through Earth's water cycle. From the looming clouds that spatter rain drops to a torrential downpour that gathers in steams and dances through trees and down over rocks. Streams runs into each other and currents cross and finally, water returns to the calm, open seas.
Composed by Adilah Junid, music directed by Jillian Ooi, artistic directed by Loh Kok Man, produced by Rhythm in Bronze, and premiered in Arus Gangsa, 2014. |