Novo Amor’s Musical Message on Civilization Induced Global Warming
We love listening to mainstream music that garners numerous likes and awards, and everybody has a different kind of taste in music, thus the different genres. However, I would love to throw light on a Welsh artist named Ali Lacey who goes by the stage name of Novo Amor. The Portuguese words translate to “New Love” as the artist himself confirmed in 2012 that this newfound love is his love of composing music. Novo Amor belongs to the Indie genre of artists who produce their own music independently without the assistance of major record labels.
In Novo Amor’s album Birthplace (2018) there are two tracks that shed light on the disastrous effects of civilization induced global warming. The two tracks are — Sleepless and Repeat Until Death. Both the songs contain a unifying story that is divided into Chapters I and II. The story focuses on the severe air pollution in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia which is home to 1.5 million people. According to a UNICEF article on climate change, the PM 2.5 level in the capital city (as of 2018) was 687 micrograms per cubic meter which is 27 times the normal level that is 25 micrograms per cubic meter. The article also states that the children of Ulaanbaatar have 40% reduced lung function than those living in the rural areas and this in turn causes severe complications like bronchitis and asthma. Along with this, the pollution has also given rise to other complications such as respiratory diseases and fetal deaths.
The two songs composed by Novo Amor exposes the ill-effects of the so called “civilization” that we live in today. We shall see that the story revolves around a Tsaatan girl who is one of the remaining few of a tribe of reindeer herders. The Tsaatans are a tribe of nature worshippers (shamanism). They originally emigrated from modern day Tuva Republic of Russia during World War II and they were finally given citizenship in 1956. Sadly, today there are around 40 Tsaatan families left, and as per a 2020 census, there are only 203 Tsaatans left.
The song Sleepless (Chapter I) begins with a bird view footage of the functioning of a coal industry in winter encapsulated by the claustrophobic smog that leads to half-visibility and invisibility of things in and around the city. Perhaps, the only saving grace that is partially visible is the beautiful snow-capped hills in the periphery. The cinematic cuts to the heart of the city in which a father is compelled to leave for his tribal home in order to save his daughter who becomes seriously ill because of the pollution.
The shots in the song video shift from being claustrophobic to breathtaking with the instruments suddenly bursting into life as the girl’s father leads the horse by the reins with his daughter on horseback thus beginning their journey homewards across the charming snow-capped stretch of the hillside. Later on they are forced to move on foot as their travel-horse manages to break free.
Finally, one of the reindeer riding village-folks spots them and takes them back home safely. Being far away from the horrendous city, the girl gradually begins to heal as she forms a close relationship with the reindeer which carried her home when she was sick. For the Tsataan community, their livelihood depends on the reindeer as it provides them with milk which they use for making cheese.
In Repeat Until Death (Chapter II), the girl develops a very close relationship with the reindeer as she tends to it and cares for it. The girl’s love for nature and her reindeer companion grows as it is her healing grace.
However, it is heart-wrenching to see that in spite of the healing and pristine air of the hillside, the reindeer suddenly perishes due to the invisible toxins that bleed into the picturesque snow-covered hillside. Coupled with the cinematics and the beautiful harmony of the piano and violin, Amor’s falsetto notes adds a ghostly feeling to this ballad as it rattles the human soul into inexplicable feelings with the lyrics—
“Don’t go, you’re half of me now…
It was heaven a moment ago
Oh, I had it almost”. “
The girl’s relationship with the reindeer is reflective of the Tsaatan’s relationship with the reindeer which they consider to be family. The lyrics quoted above reveal the girl’s attachment to the reindeer that carried her on its back when she was sick (Chapter I). In spite of being far away from the polluted city, the beautiful landscape of the Tsaatan homeland still stands threatened by the ill-effects of civilization and industry.
The songs can be interpreted from the perspective of a jilted lover but that is not the primary intention of the artist. To understand the real message of the song, one must see the video as well. What is striking about these two heartfelt tracks is that they romanticize nature, the indigenous people, and the animals against the terrifying backdrop of global warming, pollution, and death, thus drawing up a stark contrast between beauty and death. These songs were released by Novo Amor 5 years ago, and it is still relevant today given the catastrophe of civilization induced global warming as I would prefer to call it. I say so, because the moment we say “global warming”, we distance ourselves from being accountable as if global warming happened on its own out of thin air. A number of climate conferences have been held where a lot of world leaders sitting in air conditioned halls employ brilliant jargon. These are just men of talk. Credit goes to the ones who actually take action. However, the question we have to ask today is — What is civilization and progress? and can we really label our society as a “progressive civilization” when it comes at the cost of nature (including animals), and so many other innocent indigenous people?
With the advent of the Industrial Revolution (1760–1840), the Romantic poet William Wordsworth lamented this pitiable condition back in April 1798, when he composed Lines Written in Early Spring. The second quatrain of the poem reminds us that it is essential for man to be at one with nature, but it is also a shame to know the damage we have done to everything around us —
“To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.”
