Apart from the education provided in
schools and colleges, youngsters, including
children and teens, need to build a sense
of social responsibility. Music is proving to
be an effective tool in doing just this, and
putting this tool to use is Varun Carvalho
and his band steps, the RiseNation Army.
They drive to schools and colleges across
Goa in their RiseNation Music Truck and
interact with the kids through music by
performing positive songs like ‘I’m Gonna
Fly’, ‘Never Give Up’, ‘Rise as One’, ‘Feel The
Moment’, ‘I’m a Star’ and ‘Let the music take
you higher’.
Varun Carvalho, a dentist by profession
and musician by passion, explains how it
all started. “Bob Marley’s son, Julian, was
down in Goa with his band three years ago.
We became good friends and we did a few
music workshops in schools. We realised
that when kids are empowered by music,
they have the power to change the world.
That is when we formed our Turn the
Tide Foundation and started building The
RiseNation Army. We believe that through
music we can raise the consciousness
of these kids and thereby raise their RQ
(Realisation Quotient). We are building a
generation of realised kids that will think
at a much higher level and we believe
these kids will change the world for the
better. Our slogan is ‘Rise As One’ and
our plan is to connect all the kids from all
over the globe and make it one powerful
RiseNation Army.”
He further adds, “We also believe that
these kids need to be socially conscious,
so we sing songs like ‘Stand Up For What
Is Right’ wherein we tell the kids that if
they want change, they need to stand up
against wrong; with ‘Clean Up India’, we ask
the kids to keep Indian clean. With ‘Amche
Goa’ and ‘Forca Goa’, we ask the kids to be
proud Goans and take the name of Goa
higher; ‘This Is For My People’ tells the kids
that we are all one and we should not have
divisions based on religion, caste, country
or colour. We also run the empowering the
girl child campaign because we believe
that these empowered girls will lead the
world forward.” Along with Varun, the band
comprises Myron on lead guitar, Franky
D’Costa on bass guitar, Cely Fernandes on
keyboards, Samuel Pinto on drums, Irina on
vocals, Brendan Fernandes on live samples
and Yash on sound.
While performing, the band talks to
the children, making it very interactive
with singing and dancing throughout the
program. “After every song, we talk to the
kids about the song and also teach them to
use music as a positive anchor. We tell them
that whenever they are down and feeling
depressed, they can always play, sing or
listen to positive music that can lift their
mood up,” says Varun, who has covered
nearly 40 schools and colleges across Goa
as the teachers and principals have been
very supportive.
Speaking about their plans for the
future, he says that he wants to connect
with children globally and help them
grow stronger through music. “We are
also developing ‘self highs’ which will be
two-minute positive building capsules that
the kids can go onto our Risenationarmy
app and access. We are planning to start a
RiseNation 24-hour helpline that will have
trained psychologists who will talk to kids.
We are also planning on starting a music
academy and a leadership academy to build
leaders for the future. We now want to take
our RiseNation Army to the rest of India,
vising schools and colleges in Bangalore
next month before moving across India.
The bigger plan is to take our foundation
to the rest of the world to build a global
RiseNation Army so that kids from all across
the world can connect with each other,”
concludes Varun.
