ubc students sing on the beach and record music to raise money for ocean protection
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emiko wijeysundera recording her individual track at the sae institute vancouver.
nico nordal
university of b.c. student and a cappella singer emiko wijeysundera is ending the year on a high note.
the fifth-year engineering physics and honours human geography student recently recorded a song that she put together for dozens of students to sing for the ocean song project, a ubc student-led ocean stewardship project funded by ocean wise and in collaboration with other international groups.
“i’ve always loved singing. i’ve been involved with choir since i was little, and then at ubc, i got involved with the a cappella club, which is where i started doing these bigger arrangements and directing groups,” she said.
“but this project definitely felt out of my comfort zone, so i am really happy with how it turned out.”
saltwater, the project’s inaugural track, is a mash-up of six popular songs that include ocean lyrics such as astronaut in the ocean by masked wolf, salt water by ed sheeran, the beatles’ octopus’s garden and ocean eyes by billie eilish.
it’s a not-for-profit project and any proceeds they raise will go toward planting mangroves. mangroves are natural barriers that can help protect against rising sea levels and erosion. they also filter pollution and are crucial habitat for marine life.
emiko wijeysundera recording her individual track at the sae institute vancouver.
nico nordal
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the song, which was released on bandcamp, involved 35 people, with 26 singing in the final recording. the rehearsal was held at spanish banks, and the recording took place last month at the sae institute vancouver.
ubc’s public choir rehearsing at spanish banks.
nico nordal
putting together the arrangement was no easy task for wijeysundera, who is self-taught in the craft. it took several months to arrange all the different parts and make sure the lyrics and composition from the different songs matched up.
wijeysundera, who sings and plays piano, began compiling the songs in july and rewriting the music into different voice parts for the a cappella group to sing. she then began to think about how they could record it.
when they were ready to sing, wijeysundera felt it was important that the group gather on the beach for rehearsal before recording in a studio.
“a cappella really is about gathering and bringing people together, and every voice contributes to the overall thing. and in a cappella, you really have to trust each other, and you really have to listen very closely,” she said. “so i wanted us to rehearse near the water, for it to be this kind of gathering and singing and music-making by the ocean.”
ocean conservation also became close to her heart after spending the summer on a ubc co-op program in a small hamlet in nunavut, where she learned about the impacts of climate change on the arctic ocean.
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“the arctic is warming at a rate much faster than the rest of the world. and it’s becoming more of a carbon source rather than a carbon sink,” she said. “i think that there’s a lot of just anxiety that comes from this, these feelings of isolation and powerlessness, and so that’s what i wanted to do with my project, to bring people together and connect with the environment.”
after the group rehearsed at spanish banks — where they even had an elvis impersonator show up and join in the fun — the song was then produced in november by vou theophanous at the sae institute vancouver.
michelle read, lead organizer for the ocean song project and a ubc student, had spent some time in florida, where she learned how important mangroves are for ocean habitat and protection.
“mangroves are super-powerful at sequestering carbon … and they’re very good at protecting coastlines and providing sanctuary for marine life. they are very much connected to the ocean, since they’re the only trees that can grow in saltwater,” said read.
she then partnered with the environmental non-profits sea trees and cobec in kenya to record music and raise money for a mangrove restoration project in that country.
since releasing the inaugural track, six more artists have recorded music for the ocean song project, said read.
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while the initial idea was only to create original lyrics, read said she was impressed with how put-together the first track using popular songs was.
“i thought that was a really fun way of making it our own. and the way she mashed it up together in an a cappella was so cool. i could not imagine composing that myself … i loved it so much,” said reed, who also sings and plays piano.
the project is still looking for more artists of all styles. a music submission form can be found at https://oceansongproject.org/
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