The mesmerizing sound of the sea engulfs you as you begin watching the hour long Laya Project DVD. As many already know 75% of the earth is filled with water, 25% is filled with land. Water can bring in the good and the bad for mankind. While it can be good to get rain which in turn will quench one’s thirst and bring you back to life, give fish to swim in the sea and give you a chance to take refreshing swim, it can be bad in other ways. Intruding on the sea’s territory can bring the sea revengefully back. The December 2004 tsunami is the best example of the sea’s violent ways. Thus while water can be good to bring life to plants too, it can also kill people in minutes either by drowning, flooding or a tidal wave.

Laya Project is a musical and visual journey through coastal and surrounding villages in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, Myanmar and Maldives. The musicians are primarily from coastal communities, towns and villages affected by the 2004 tsunami. Laya Project is a celebration of life, a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit, and is dedicated to the survivors of the disaster. It is a musical and visual journey documenting folk music recorded and filmed on location in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Maldives, India and Myanmar. Some of these performances are rare, and documented for the first time. Crossing boundaries of genre while still preserving the music of the people, Laya Project's essence is an artistic purity and simplicity, a non-judgmental point of view.

Some of the highlights of the visuals and songs include the opening ‘Glorious Sun’ with its piercing vocals of a female duo, extremely sharp and tuneful. The very catchy ‘Ha La Sa’ has good tempo, beat and great instrumentation and is the standout here coming from a group in India. It would be interesting to note that most of the recordings have actually been done with makeshift studios; the microphones used are those of a time gone by, bringing off a rustic life like that of the locals. The music sung by the people of the coastal communities, was recorded and brought back to the studio to create a composition that mixes and enhances the original recordings, bringing out the essence of the countries and people. The use of traditional musical instruments and innovative percussion, string and horn instruments is remarkable and brings off a great reproduction. It’s also nice to watch the locals wearing a headphone and rocking to the music.

The photography is spellbinding and the scenery of the mountains is captivating. There are also very interesting experiences of the local people who actually saw the tsunami approaching and ran to safety. A local said”I saw the wave coming in and ran up a tree. It was not that powerful. But a second wave bigger than the 1^st cleaned up houses. After the water receded a little, I got down and went in search of my wife. I found her clinging to my lunch box and hanging precariously from a tree. Every afternoon she brings my lunch to the beach and she was on her way when this happened. I was happy she was alive.”

Coming back to the music ‘Supreme Being’ from the Maldives is a pulsating track that begins slowly, but builds up a tremendous tempo to the end. ‘Embrace’ – ‘Rain Buddha’ from Myanmar has the chants of monks, traditional instruments and locals swinging to the beat. Tapatam from India is an interesting look at an elderly man playing a small silver musical instrument using his mouth, that brings out a sound of an electric guitar. Very innovative and definitely shocking to know such instruments exist. The lovely dancing besides the bonfire gives the song a very eerie feel. From the Andaman Islands’ Perca village, we have a local girl who speaks shyly at the camera and says. “I could be a good preacher and know everything, but without love I would be nothing. I would be nothing in this world” as she talks about the devastation that left many homeless and without their near and dear ones. On the music side she notes that the boys know all the old songs of the past. But they don’t sing them. For when the old people sing the old songs the young start laughing. Lastly don’t miss Myanmar’s ‘The General’ a song that is played on a novel string instrument. There’s also a puppet show that tells the tale of a general.

There are a host of extras on this DVD that are a must to watch after you have seen the movie.

Rating: ****

-- Reviewed by Verus Ferreira