Monday, March 30, 2009

Presenting Praan!


Last December I posted a blog titled Dancing with the non-stars. It was a poignant reminder of the simple but profound power of music and love. More recently I had a friend e-mail me to enquire about that post and so I had occasion to watch it all over again. I discovered that I was just as moved by it as I was the first few thousand times I watched it. I was motivated to research it some more. While the title "Where in the hell is Matt" does an absolute disservice to the strength of the video, it's message is just as profound.

During the planning stages of the video, the producers searched high and low for the "right voice" to carry the song (which incidentally happens to be a Bangladesh poem). They auditioned tons of established musicians and even had people submit videos of their music. Nothing seemed to fit until they found seventeen year old Palbasha Siddique. She was perfect for what they intended, and so she became the voice of the song "Praan", the music behind the youtube video that's been viewed over seven million times.

Palbasha has a vision to help the poor and less privileged of Bangladesh and she is using the leverage of her new found fame to promote that laudable agenda. In my own small attempt to help spread her message, and as a tribute to my friend who rekindled the memory of the original video, I present Palbasha doing Praan on her eighteenth birthday. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

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