Assadian Loris @plumesofficial
The Okapi's Gift: How Music Bridges Species
A musician discovers that singing to animals shifts how he sees them, and how the world sees animals.
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Assadian Loris @plumesofficial
A musician discovers that singing to animals shifts how he sees them, and how the world sees animals.
Hear this story
Follow the show
Assadian Loris has been singing to animals for two years, but music came first. He was writing songs at four, drumming by seven, and somewhere along the way he noticed something: cows respond to melody. After reading that they love music, he tried it on his grandmother's farm nearby and felt hooked. What started as curiosity became a practice. He discovered that when he sings, animals come closer. A parrot danced along with him. A giraffe in the south of France overcame its shyness and cried while he played, her tears running down as he held the moment. An okapi, a rare and endangered animal, stayed beside him for over forty minutes despite being warned it would never approach a human at all.
He doesn't change his setlist for different species. Instead, he focuses on creating a soothing melodic sound and calls what he does singing love songs to the animals. The intent and energy behind the performance matter as much as the notes. He researches every facility before he goes because ensuring the animals are treated well matters more than capturing content. At one farm he visits regularly, the cows covered him in licks. He later learned this meant they had adopted him as one of their own.
Two years of performing for animals changed him. He became vegan after meeting the cows and now sees them as sensitive living beings, not as he saw them before. He has learned that animals feel emotions humans feel, and their capacity for love and protection mirrors what we experience. He does not force his views on others. Instead, he posts videos that highlight how wonderful animals are and lets people draw their own conclusions. People have written to him saying his videos made them vegan too. His mission now is to fight for animal rights and protection.
“The intent and the energy you're putting out there can definitely have an impact. So I always sing love songs to them.”
“It can be counterproductive to try and force people to share my point of view. So I'm trying to be a bit more subtle with my approach.”
“I became vegan after my first meeting with cows. So, that definitely uh had an impact and yeah, I feel like it completely changed my perception of of animals cuz I see them now as as what they are, which is sensitive living beings.”
The hero, today
Assadian Loris @plumesofficial has learned that animals are far more sensitive than most people understand, and their capacity for love and emotion mirrors what humans feel. The intent and energy he brings to a performance matters as much as the song itself, which is why he always sings what he calls love songs to the animals. Two years of performing for animals changed him from someone making content to someone driven to fight for animal rights, including becoming vegan after meeting the cows. He chooses not to force his views on people, instead posting videos that highlight how wonderful animals are and letting people draw their own conclusions, and he has seen viewers become vegan as a result. Assadian Loris @plumesofficial conducts research on every facility before performing there, because ensuring the animals are treated well matters more than capturing content.
Yes. Assadian Loris @plumesofficial is a real person who shared their own story in their own words. Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit that shares first-person stories of overcoming adversity, told with the person's consent.
Kintsugi Heroes, a registered Australian not-for-profit. Every story is shared with the hero's own consent and reviewed under Kintsugi Heroes' trauma-informed content standard before it goes public.
Assadian Loris @plumesofficial has learned that animals are far more sensitive than most people understand, and their capacity for love and emotion mirrors what humans feel.
The intent and energy he brings to a performance matters as much as the song itself, which is why he always sings what he calls love songs to the animals.
Two years of performing for animals changed him from someone making content to someone driven to fight for animal rights, including becoming vegan after meeting the cows.
Welcome to another episode of Animals and Us, the podcast that explores the profound connection between humans and animals. And today we have a truly special guest, someone whose music transcends species and creates harmony between humans and animals. Joining us is Plume, a French musician with a remarkable audience. He sings to animals. His melodies and gentle voice resonate with animals in a way that words cannot. Plume's music bridges the gap between species, reminding us of the grace and sensitivity of the animal world. Today, we'll explore Plume's journey as a musician, discover the magic behind his performances, and hear about the lessons he's learned from the animals he connects with. Plume, welcome to our podcast. It's a pleasure to have you here. Can you please start by telling us about yourself and how your career in singing with animals began? Yeah. So, u my name is Prim. I started music when I was uh around seven and began drumming lessons. But uh I feel like even before that, I was always singing. I remember writing songs when I was four and pretty much haven't stopped since, but I started singing for animals over two years ago now and uh yeah, it's been an amazing experience. And what started your interest in singing for animals? Well, I've always been fascinated by uh by animals and uh when I was living in the countryside with my grandma, uh there were lots of cows around in farms nearby. So, I tried singing to them and it ended up being an amazing experience and I became hooked to that feeling and I found myself wanting to do it again and again and again. So, uh yeah. So, it began with the cows. It did because I read somewhere that the cows love music that it suits them and so I wanted to try it out for myself and uh apparently it's true. And do you sing for human audiences too or or just animals now? No, I do I do sing for human audiences. It's true that it became less often than it used to be because I have lots of shoots now with animals because because of the exposure a lot of places that have animals invite me. But uh yeah, I do all kinds of of shows. I do my own songs. I also do weddings and stuff like this. I have been watching a lot of your videos and and just absolutely loving them. They're so diverse. you've been performing in front of so many different types of animals. Have you I've noticed that with the animals that I've seen on your Instagram and Facebook that the animals are largely enclosed in some type of fencing, whether it's in an animal sanctuary or or um paddics and on farms. Have you ever been out into the wilderness and and sang for animals in the wilderness? No, I I have have I I don't think I have. I I do try and do a bit of research uh before I go to a place because I want the animals to be treated well or as well as they can be. So, um I do look it up before and if I see that it's a bit dodgy, it's a bit weird, I don't visit the place. But, uh I go to a lot of places that have what they call semi freedom. So, it's like there are fences, but there's also lots of space within the fence, but uh I don't think I've ever done anything in the wild so far. I'd like to try though, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. I'd be very interested to see what happens if they're actually drawn to you in in the wild. Yeah. And even like I've seen a lot of sanctuaries for elephants in Africa and I would love to visit them. Yeah, I'll certainly be following that when you go to Africa and to the safaris on safaris. How do how do animals typically respond to your singing? Well, a lot of them are very curious and they want to come closer to explore what the the sound the the singing and my pink guitar is all about. Some are a bit more cautious, so it takes some more time getting used to each other, but they pretty much always come near. And are there any memorable actions, reactions to your music that that stand out? There's something about your your first love and for me it was it was the cows. So that first meeting will always stand out to me. But I've had like many other instances, I've had a parrot dance and sing along to my music, which was pretty great. And also more recently, I had the opportunity to sing for no cap and it's a very rare and wild animal that's unfortunately an endangered species. And uh yeah, I was told there's no way he's going to come close. You can try and sing to him, but it's a bit useless. And I was like, let's try it anyways. And he ended up coming next to me to listen to the music for like uh 40 minutes almost. And uh yeah, that was pretty uh pretty special. Plume, um how do you prepare for your singing to to the animals? Do is do you prepare different songs for particular species? what what goes on in the background before you perform for them? Well, not really. I I always try to create a melodic uh and soothing sound. Uh something very calming because I don't want to scare them away, you know. And uh I also find that the intent and the energy you're putting out there uh can definitely have an impact. So I always sing love songs to them. It's kind of like professing my love to them in a way. Yeah, that's be they're beautiful. And what what have you learned about animals and their emotions through your music and through your interactions? Well, I realized how sensitive they are. you know how pure their their love can be because there's been some moments where I witnessed for example animal parents being protective of their child and not not letting them come close until they realize that it's safe. Uh I see how the emotions that we consider the most humans are actually shared by by animals too. Yeah. Yeah. Now you have over the last couple of years you have produced hundreds of beautiful videos where you are singing to the animals and it's been very it's been a great so much fun such pleasure scrolling through them. Can you talk about the time when you played your guitar for those beautiful cows in the paddic? Yeah, well this was at a farm I often visit and I started playing for them and they lit me all over. It was a mess. And um later on I actually did some research as to what the leaking means cuz I want to know if it's positive or not. You know when I see an animal do something uh for next time I visit them to know them better and I found that it means they adopted me as one of their own. So it was it was a fun and and cute thing. How wonderful. And the next video that we'll watch now is of with you playing for the giraffes and one giraffe took particular interest in you and came up very very close to you. Where where were you and what was that experience like? Well, I was in the it was in the south of France in Arashon and singing for has always been a dream of mine and yeah, I got the opportunity to do it and they they're very shy. So, anytime there's something unusual, they get very cautious, but one of them was braver than the rest and came to listen. And it was amazing to see her from up close. She, you know, she's so pretty. She also started crying, which doesn't show on the vid, but I was told it doesn't necessarily mean they're emotional. It can be like other things as well, like a lack of humidity in the eyes and things like that, but it was like it made me so emotional to to see like tears falling down as I was singing. Wow. Yeah, it was a how extraordinary. Big crocodile tears as well. And yeah, and it doesn't show on the vid. Uh, but there were also like all the other ones on my left were like very curious but from afar and I could see a bunch of faces popping up and yeah, that was that was also special to me. Great. Now the Thank you. The third video that we'll show now is of that very special one that you you mentioned before with a okapi. I hope I'm pronouncing the the animal properly. An okapi. How do you say it? Yeah, I say okap, but really don't take my word for it. Okay. Um, so this is the one that you were describing before that's of particularly profound for you because the ochre peas are so shy. I'd love to hear again a bit more about your your experience of of that. Well, singing for Noapi was was amazing because first of all, I I didn't even really know them uh or about them before meeting him. So, it was very other worldly and uh and and yeah, as I said before, they're very wild. So, I was warned that there was no way he's going to come close. But we ended up bonding over music and we spent some time together. So yeah, I've got to say probably the most special moment for me. Yeah. And how long did that okope stay with you? He stayed for over 40 minutes. Yeah. So that was uh that was pretty amazing. And uh I show I show of course I show a 1 minute video because uh uh social media doesn't really let me put longer vids. But uh yeah, I wish I could put the the whole thing because uh after he came, he just stayed closed and you could tell that he was uh attentive and listening to the music. How do you know when to close the curtains on the performance? Who who decides? Is is is it who loses interest first? Does the animal tend to lose interest or or yourself? Well, it depends. Uh, I would say I try and uh and play until uh they lose interest because I want them to as long as they want the to listen to the music I want to play basically. But sometimes you also go to to places where we have to to be quite fast because there there's lots of animals waiting next. So it depends. But I always try to spend at least half an hour because you know the the whole point is not just to post a video online. It's also to to share something. Yeah. Have any of the animals responses surprised you? Um well I would say yeah the okapi surprised me. The the parrots surprised me. Uh also the the first time I sang for horses, I was very pleasantly surprised because uh I don't know why I think I I sang for horses like uh a long while ago and it didn't work and so in my mind I was like well horses don't really like it. It's fine. I I'll you know I won't try again. But I had a TV shoot with someone and she told me she needed horses for the shoot. So I found a farm and we went there and uh this this experience ended up being really really amazing and ever since that day I've done horses like at least 10 times and every single time without failure uh it worked. So yeah I was very surprised with them. Do you find any patterns in the animals preferences for music? Like, do some species or some types of animals prefer a certain type of music? I don't know cuz I I kind of always play the same thing, which is love songs. But I think that uh if I'm not mistaken, I think a lot of cows and farm animals really enjoy classical music. uh which I'm I don't know how to play unfortunately, but uh yeah, I think a lot of farms put uh put it on speakers and uh it it helps suit them. Well, your love songs certainly attract them as well, don't they? Oh, it seems it seems to be the case so far. Yeah. Yeah. So, your your work inspires a a deeper appreciation for animals. What do you hope people will feel or understand when they see your performances with animals or your interactions with animals? Well, you know, it's it's funny because I didn't start out uh well, this whole thing didn't start out with me being an advocate for animal rights, but the the more I learn about them and the more animals I meet, the more I want to fight for them and their rights because uh it's very unfortunate, but they're getting exploited and the conditions they're forced to live under are horrible. But I also feel like it can be counterproductive to try and force people to to share my point of view. So I'm trying to be a bit more subtle with my approach. And yeah, I just put the I just post the videos highlighting how wonderful animals are and people can take away what they want from it. And uh I've actually had lots of comments telling me I became vegan after watching your videos and things like this. So, so it's always nice. So, regarding your your mission for animal protection and and for better welfare, for more kindness towards animal animals, are there any particular types of animals, species of animals that you're that you're particularly concerned about? Well, I feel like uh I always feel uh very strongly about uh pigs and cows uh because of the way you know they they're being treated and the more I the more I I think for them a lot of people with a vegan page started following me. So I follow them back and they they showcase the the conditions and I feel I feel like a lot of people underestimate what really goes on behind the scenes and u yeah I would I would advise people to make their own decision but first like watch what actually goes on uh because uh yeah it's I feel like it's it's a living hell for them and so uh yeah it kind of breaks my heart every them. Yeah. So, encourage people to make informed decisions. Yeah. I actually want to put a link uh maybe in my bio cuz I saw a video that um shows what the advertising campaign show and what actually happens. And I feel like it's it's such a strong video and a lot of people would need to to see it and I'm sure a lot of people would change their minds. Mhm. And you're going to put that on on your social media on your your Instagram? Yeah, I think I will. So far, I'm I'm providing other links uh towards other things uh like organizations for animals, but I think I will in the in the future. Yeah. Um where can people find you? Which can you tell us the names of your social media pages? It's Instagram and Facebook. Yeah. So, the name is Plume with an S at the end. uh official which is French p means feather and official you you guessed it means official and uh yeah yeah yeah it's a little wink to my love for animals that that name plume you've been doing this for two years performing for to animals for two years how has this changed you personally you have you have touched on the fact that it's made you more aware of and more motivated um towards protecting animals. Has it changed you in any other way? Well, I uh I became vegan after my first meeting with cows. So, that definitely uh had an impact and yeah, I feel like it completely changed my perception of of animals cuz I see them now as as what they are, which is sensitive living beings. Mhm. And uh just to finish off, is there a particular cause that you would like our audience to support? Well, basically under my videos, I provide a link that leads you to an organization that helps endangered and exploited animals. It's called FA and Flora. And uh yeah, I chose them because I know they do a lot for all kinds of different animals. And I also note that their site is very secure for everybody who wants to donate. So this is the one I chose. Okay. So it's the Fauna and Flora International Fund. Yeah, that's correct. Great. Plume, it has been such an honor. I know hundreds of thousands of people enjoy your music and enjoy your videos and your interactions with animals from all over the world. It really has been a great honor and I wish you well with your continued music and interactions and and your mission to help animals. Thank you very much. Thanks a lot. I wish the same to you and it's been a great pleasure. Thank you, Flo. Animals and us is a production of Kugi Heroes. Thank you to Xavier Road for his permission to use Follow the Sun as our theme music for this series. If you enjoyed this conversation, share the podcast with a friend and let us know by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you'd like to support Kugiheroes and the stories we share, head to kukiheroes.com.au and follow the instructions to make a taxdeductible donation. Thank you for listening and we'll see you next time. [Music]
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He chooses not to force his views on people, instead posting videos that highlight how wonderful animals are and letting people draw their own conclusions, and he has seen viewers become vegan as a result.
This conversation includes learning to sing before learning to talk, the cows in his grandmother's countryside, from animals to weddings and everything in between, the research before every performance, when the parrot dances and the okapi stays and love songs and the energy behind them.
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