The Green Children

Recently, a friend was complaining about the low quality of music and video-clips on MTV. Although I generally enjoy commercial music, and I love dancing to the beat of modern tunes, I completely dislike the soft-porn trend (not so soft actually…) going on in most video clips and the sexually explicit lyrics that – instead of being an expression of art – are a sequence of random, inappropriate and shallow comments.

This why coming across modern and young artists such as The Green Children, brings a relief similar to a breath of fresh air. I first discovered their music on iTunes, while listening to the radio under the ‘Ambient’ category.

 

The first song I heard was ‘Skies on Fire’, of which you can hear an excerpt here:

I then visited their website (http://www.thegreenchildren.com/tgc/) , which I strongly recommend you to browse: it is like entering the magical world of their ethereal music. You will also discover that they have created The Green Children Foundation to raise money for micro-credit, health care and children. In 2005, they visited Bangladesh and India, and they decided to shoot a music video to celebrate the women borrowers of Grameen Bank, known as ‘the bank for the poor’. Thanks to The Green Children Foundation, the Grameen Green Children Hospital in Bangladesh was opened on May 12, 2008 serving already over 60,000 people.

The Green Children is a European music duo composed by Marlow Bevan from Warwick (UK) and Milla Sunde from Ålesund (Norway), who met while attending the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts. They called their band The Green Children as Milla explained “We liked the green element because we draw so much inspiration from nature, and we are childlike in many ways.” They then came to discover that The Green Children was actually the name of an English Medieval legend about two children who appeared in the countryside in Suffolk who had green skin and were unable to speak or understand local language. The children in the legend came from the land of an unknown world, and the band felt that this reflected perfectly the magical aura of their music.

Milla’s voice is sweet, clear and silky – it somehow reminds me of Lene Marlin but The Green Children’s music is much happier, more cheerful and livelier. Finally, I bought their album Encounter from Amazon a week ago and I am listening to it almost non-stop in the car, at home, at work. It is relaxing and it makes me feel so so so happy!

I will conclude my post with one of my favourite songs from their album, ‘Hear Me Now’, which is the video they shot in Bangladesh:

Lyrics

Hear Me Now- The Green Children

A scarf uncovers a smiling face
That tells the story of a changing place
She knows no greater wonder than what she’s seen
She bears a heart of secrets from where she’s been, she says

Hear me now
Hear me now
Hear me out, she cries
See me now
See me now
See in me and I’ll rise

She’s worked hard and achieved
A new life’s been received
So much pride in her eyes
She’s thrown out her disguise
She’s got a chance to make it on her own
Just one man gave hope to his home, he says

Hear me now
Hear me now
Hear me out, he cries
See her now
See her now
See in her and she’ll rise

She speaks unfamiliar words
But so easily understood
It’s like a tone in her voice
Reveals the power of choice
She’s so wonderful
The way she holds herself
She finally broke the spell
You can tell

Hear me now
Hear me now
Hear me out, she cries
See me now
See me now
See in me and I’ll rise

Hear me now
Hear me now
Hear me out, he cries
See her now
See her now
See in her and she’ll rise

A scarf uncovers a smiling face
That tells the story of a changing place