New Delhi: The Earth Anthem written by Bihar-born Indian poet-diplomat Abhay K. has been translated into many new languages such as Sanskrit, Gujarati, Magahi, Maithili, Marathi, Mising, Kokborok, Rajasthani, Armenian among others. On the occasion of the 51st Earth Day celebrations this year, it is now also produced in Indian sign language in association with www.globalbihari.com and the We Care Film Festival, making it available more widely across the world. Manisha Sharma performed it in Indian sign language.
“When Ambassador Abhay Kumar came up with the idea of making the Earth Anthem into sign language and requested us to take the intiative, we immediately gave our consent to this such a noble cause. The Anthem celebrates the beauty and diversity of life on Earth and to have it in sign language was a terrific idea about inclusion. I talked to Satish Kapoor, founder director of We Care Film Festival on disability issues, and soon Manisha was roped in for the task, and she performed excellently. Kudos to Ambassador Abhay for such a wonderful song and for thinking about inclusion,” Deepak Parvatiyar, Chief Editor of globalbihari.com said.
On the occasion of the 51st Earth Day celebrations this year this video was played on a virtual platform where over 100 eminent poets, musicians, actors, singers, artists, professors and people from various walks of life across the planet participated in reading and recording Earth Anthem in various languages to celebrate beauty and diversity of life on Earth and to express their concern against climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental pollution. The recordings of their readings are available on Kavishala, a global poetry platform.
Waterman of India Dr. Rajendra Singh reading out the Earth Anthem
Participants included Stockholm Water Prize and Ramon Magsaysay award winner Rajendra Singh, who is also known as the Waterman of India, Actress Manisha Koirala, British poet Ruth Padel known for her championing the cause of environmental protection, Vivek Menon, wildlife conservationist, Shaheen Nilofer, UNICEF country representative to Eritrea, Shumona Iqbal, High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Brunei, Tanzanian poet Charlotte Hill O’ Neal, renowned Brazilian artist Maria Helena Andrés, group of women from Ecofeminist movement in Cabo Verde led by Monica Rodrigues, Chinese-American actor Robert Lin, Prof Prabhajot Parmar from Fraser Valley University, Canada, Japanese singer Miho Namatame among others.
Abhay K. first wrote Earth Anthem while posted in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2008, and since then it has now been translated into over 70 global languages and is read and performed across the globe to celebrate Earth Day and World Environment Day.
Earth Anthem calls for unity of all the species on Earth and among all the people and all the nations to fight the triple crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental pollution. It calls to rise over our differences and unite to save our planet for the future generations.
– global bihari bureau
A great👍👏 composition Ambassador Abhay K deserves praise from every Indian for imagining and writing it Also we care also deserves appreciation for nicely shaping it we Indians are proud of Ambassador Abhay k.