Zoya Science School is producing a rock opera for children in Seraiki Nawan Sij (New Sun) on measuring the Earth’s circumference. Nawan Sij (New Sun) is also the banner of Zoya schools.
The opera in 6 songs is the story of our girl-heroine who wishes to know how big is the Earth (its circumference) and finds out in Zoya Science school. Apart from entertainment the songs promote social themes (women’s liberation), as well, math and science; introduce children to world music (Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, Beatles, BonnieM, local and classical Indian), world art (Picasso, Freida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Munch, etc.), Soviet agitprop art, and anime and manga dancing (eventually we will have sub-continental classical dances with original choreography by Harsukh Dance Academy). The opera progresses from dismay, to optimism and joy, and when our girl-heroine has mastered the math and science to measure the Earth’s circumference it ends in a crescendo of achievement promising a bright future. In the opera’s finale the protagonist, our girl-hero, proclaims in a chorus set to Ode to Joy: I know how big is the Earth. It is 40,000 km wide!
The songs teach properties of triangles, Pythagoras theorem and proof, heliocentrism, why seasons occur, and how Earth’s circumference was measured by Greeks (Eratosthenes), Indians (Aryabhata), scientists at Bayt Al-Hikmah and Al-Beruni (near Pind Dadan Khan).
Our songs set to a familiar tune the poetic description of social issues and science/math subjects so they are easily learned, and spread among the illiterate through singing.
1st song (WOMAN) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qi9d3rIc90
The mother’s response to our girl-heroine’s query is a sad song in a minor key telling of women’s lives worn out with toil–a commentary on the plight of women in our society (inspired by poem of Noble-Laureate Maya Angelou Woman’s Work… storm blow me from here…With your fiercest wind…let me float across the sky….till I rest again). The video’s final melancholic scene sees the mother do just that.
2nd song: AWAKE (Utho!) AND HASTEN TO A BRIGHT FUTURE
Songs 3-4 set to music of BonnieM, ABBA, and dances by Equestrian Girls are math and science mnemonics
Song 5 FINALE: I KNOW HOW BIG IS THE EARTH…40,000 KM set to music of Ode to Joy
Song 6 EPILOGUE. Chorus by villagers: We will send our children to Zoya Science school. No longer will they tend the landlord’s animals. They will shape their own destiny in Zoya school.