London: Part of proceeds from a chart-busting song on Don Bosco by a school children’s band in United Kingdom will go to organization in Kolkata that assists in the rehabilitation of street and vulnerable children.
The song written, music arranged, performed and recorded by students at a London school has been outselling Ed Sheeran, an English singer, songwriter and occasional actor on an online download chart.
The song, “It’s Not Enough” by ‘The Boscos,’ a student band from Salesian School Chertsey, was launched on September 18. With five days it entered Amazon UK’s top 10 music chart and emerged number 3 on the “Movers and Shakers.” It can be downloaded from iTunes and Amazon and it has an accompanying video on Youtube
Part of the proceeds from the single album will go to Don Bosco Ashalayam (house of hope) in Kolkata that was started in 1985. The Salesian School at Chertsey has a twinning project with Ashalayam since 2009, thanks to Salesian Fr Andrew Ebrahim who has his roots in Kolkata.
Fr Ebrahim, who is popularly known as Fr Andrew, claims the song has helped spread the story of Don Bosco during the bi-centenary celebrations of his birth that concluded on August 16.
The rector and teacher at Salesian School narrates the genesis of ‘The Boscos’ band project which made the single album: “Each year our Year 7 students (11 year olds) do a project on Don Bosco for their Religious Education teachers. This year Cathra Plant decided to compose a song which celebrates the legacy of the saint as part of her project for her RE teacher, Maria Morrison.”
Most pupils write an essay or make a creative drawing, but for the recent school project Cathra chose to sing about how Don Bosco dedicated his life to the betterment and education of poor children.
During a fund raising evening for Don Bosco Ashalayam Kolkata last March, Morrison encouraged Fr Andrew to let Cathra sing her song for the event.
Cathra says: “I was asked to do a project about Don Bosco and I wanted to do something different than just a PowerPoint [presentation]. I’ve written songs before so I thought I should write a song about him instead.”
She said she was inspired by the life of Don Bosco, an Italian priest, who had dreamt as a child about helping young people and fulfilled his dream when he grew up. “I sang the song for my class and my teacher told Father Andrew about it.”
Fr Andrew recalls, “I liked it so much that I asked Callum Mazzella-Hart, a 17 year old boy from 6th form, to put music to the song and to work out its music arrangement.”
On Father’s Day, June 21, Fr Andrew remembers, “we went into local Water Rats recording studio and together with Jarret Millen and Darragh Chaplin performing on guitar and drums, Miranda Lopez on electric guitar, Callum Mazzella-Hart on keyboards, and the students recorded it as ‘The Boscos.’”
“It struck me that Father’s Day was a good day to record a single about Don Bosco although I hadn’t planned it that way, it was the only free day we had,” recalls Fr Andrew.
In July, one of the priest’s students, Jack Frain, helped get the single signed up with a distributing company, and by mid-July Fr Andrew placed the single “under the guidance of Our Lady.”
Over the summer break students spread the word about their single using the social media.
Fr Andrew also explained initial hurdles. “Though the main radio stations showed no interest and turned us down several times, we got the break when some of the religious radio stations showed interest.”
The major breakthrough came on September 3 when Cathra was interviewed on the Breakfast Radio Show of Premier Radio, the largest Christian Radio Station network in the UK.
Meanwhile Fr Andrew started a novena to Our Lady Help of Christians in September to finish on the day of the single’s scheduled release on September 18.
The following week, the single entered Amazon UK’s top 10 music chart and was featured at number 3 on their ‘Movers and Shakers’ chart and has remained there even in October.
Looking back at the project Fr Andrew says, “Initially we had wanted to make a bit of a noise for Don Bosco during his birth bicentenary year 2015. We did this by bringing the language of God, just briefly, into the secular world of commercial music.”
Cathra told Matters India that she was “quite shocked” that the song has managed to get this much attention. “We are all so pleased that Don Bosco is back in people’s minds this year.”
Father Andrew said it was “wonderful to see for ourselves what the power of people and prayer can do when they combine as one.”
The children now hope to use some of the proceeds from the single to help with the work of Don Bosco Ashalayam. Darragh had visited Don Bosco Ashalayam earlier this year.
The 3.6 min duration song “It’s Not Enough,” by The Boscos, is available for purchase in MP3 format downloadable at £0.79 (approximately 79 Indian rupees).
Fr Andrew adds, “Interest has spread far and wide with the song is downloaded all over the world, with interest even from Don Bosco’s home country, Italy, as well as El Salvador, Australia and India.”
The Boscos single is not to be confused with “It’s Not Enough” an earlier song recorded by The Who, written by Pete Townshend and his partner Rachel Fuller, and featured on the band’s 2006 album Endless Wire which peaked at #37 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, their first US chart hit since “Eminence Front” in 1982.