Punjabi singer Kanwar Grewal’s latest musical endeavour ‘Sarbat Da Bhala’ is an environmentally conscious song that warns us about the future.
The lyrics have been written by Vari Rai while the music has been composed Bhai Manna Singh.
Dressed in traditional Punjabi attire, Grewal stands in the middle of an empty road, with a transistor in his hand. Channeling the image of a bard singing about social issues, his latest song examines the impact of the destruction of nature on the once lush and prosperous state of Punjab.
The spirited song begins by looking the map of Punjab, which is mainly an agricultural state, and talks of the erratic monsoon, which has plunged farmers into a state of uncertainty.
Grewal questions the idea of progress which pollutes the seas and waters. He exhorts people to save the future and nurture nature back to its former glory, highlighting that the present is the result of our misdeeds. Images of people cutting trees, forest fires, filthy drains, factories spewing pollutants, emphasise his point.
Towards the end we see children planting trees in the hope for a greener future. He ends the song by saying that only by mending our ways we will be able to achieve the Sikh principle of ‘Sarbat Da Bhala’, or prosperity for all.