Showing pictures of deserts and ships standing on rocks, British rock group Pink Floyd has released a new music video highlighting the problems of the Aral Sea dryout. “Louder Than Words” debuted on YouTube Nov. 7 and quickly topped the charts.
In the video, young people are told about the great Aral Sea, which was once one of the four biggest lakes in the world. Despite the permanent drying of the reservoir, the main characters, who are played by locals, continue believing the sea can be revived.
The music video was produced by the British company “Hipgnosis”, which has cooperated with the group for the past 40 years. According to director Aubrey Powell, the message of the video is that our deeds are stronger than words and have consequences.
“It is much more important what you do than what you say. We decided to expose some ecological problems and shot fantastic frames of the Aral Sea and old ships standing there on the sand. We just want to say, ‘Lets bring the Aral Sea back!’ I mean, we hope it is not too late,” explained Powell.
He also noted, however, that the video is also positive. Just like other songs composed by Pink Floyd, the composition has its own unique philosophy. According to Powell, the idea is to make people aware that things can be changed and possibly this problem can be solved. He also proposed saving remnants of abandoned ships as a memorial to the Aral Sea.
“These wrecks and remains are the only connection between the present and the past of the sea. I know that Kazakhstan is working on this problem and there is a project sponsored by the World Bank to redirect the river flow back into the Aral Sea, so there is small-scale progress in the north. But I am afraid we cannot say the same about the southern part of the lake, which is located in Uzbekistan. There is simply no sponsorship for that,” said Powell.
Pink Floyd also planned to shoot a video in Uzbekistan, but because of the lack of time the musicians couldn’t attain the proper visas. The band was forced to restrict itself to Kazakhstan, which is offering visa-free access to several European states this year.
The water level of the Aral Sea, located on the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, started to decline in 1960 as the consequence of the abstraction of water from the two main rivers, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, that flow into the sea. After a long dryout period the lake became divided into two sections – the north part (Small Aral) and the south Aral Sea. The water level in the Small Aral was slightly restored after the Kokaral Dam began operating in 2005.
