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Landscape with Birds

by Marek Hlaváč

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Flocking 07:13
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about

stories about birds and technology




1: morning soundscape with sound of cool store motor fan on a farm in Kent (with emphasized tonal components)


2: metaphorical artificial ecosystem with modified birds - voices of October morning birds (which are also heard in track 1) (Tawny Owl, Blackbird, Robin, Tree Sparrow, Great Tit, Wren, Carrion Crow, Mallard, Magpie and more) together with their higher or lower pitched artificial relatives are played automatically by Conway's Game of Life cellular automaton (initial state of the automaton is random and each cell is inhabited by one kind of bird, number of active cells changes the speed of evolution and relation between volumes of birds voices and background noise)


3: 'negative image' of a recording of birds singing in Prague (random noise synthesized in the rest of audible spectrum that is not birdsong)


4: binaural recording of landscape with 400kV power lines in Southern Bohemia (best listened with headphones)


5: song of robin (and blackbird in the background) simplified and spectrally enhanced for better audibility in noisy environments


6: evening gathering of crows in Kent (slightly expanded)


7: metaphorical artificial ecosystem with resurrected birds - game of life with synthetic voices of extinct birds and their artificial relatives.

The birds featured in the piece are birds from all over the world and from various different habitats that went extinct mostly during 20th century and were chosen mostly for availability of archival recordings of their songs.
Instead of original recordings, synthetic remakes and approximations of their voices were used.

Sounds of Dusky Seaside Sparrow (Ammospiza maritima nigrescens), Northern Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis principalis), Bachman's Warbler (Vermivora bachmanii), Kauai Oo (Moho braccatus) and Poo-uli (Melamprosops phaeosoma) together with two birds now extinct only in the wild, Hawaiian Crow (Corvus hawaiiensis) and Spix’s Macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii), are based on archival recordings.
Sounds of The Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris) and North Island piopio (Turnagra tanagra) are based on human imitation by an earwitness.
Sounds of Heath hen (Tympanuchus cupido cupido), Carolina parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis) and Great auk (Pinguinus impennis) are adapted from sounds of their closest living relatives (Greater Prairie Chicken, Mitred Parakeet and Razorbill).
Passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) left only a musical notation, so his song is played (rather ironically) on piano.





field recordings were recorded near Horsmonden, Kent in October and November 2021 (tracks 1, 2 & 6);
Prague in May 2021 (track 3);
near Jindřichův Hradec, Czech Republic in October 2011 (track 4) (originally from the '29-10-2011/49.092979,14.967572' installation);
Marloes, Wales in January 2022 (track 5);

sounds of birds from track 7 are based on:
recordings from Macaulay Library (https://macaulaylibrary.org): Dusky Seaside Sparrow by Robert C. Stein, 1963 (Macaulay Library ML15073), Northern Ivory-billed Woodpecker by Arthur A. Allen, 1935 (Macaulay Library ML6784), Bachman's Warbler by Arthur A. Allen, 1954 and 1959 (Macaulay Library ML10716, ML10717), Kauai Oo by Robert Shallenberger, 1975 (Macaulay Library ML6031), Poo-uli by Doug Pratt, 1975 (Macaulay Library ML5125), Hawaiian Crow by William V. Ward (Macaulay Library ML13434) and Spix’s Macaw by Bret Whitney, 1991 (Macaulay Library ML57774, ML57099); McPherson Natural History Unit Sound Archive (www.archivebirdsnz.com): The Huia and North Island piopio imitation by Henare Haumana, 1952 (accessible at nzbirdsonline.org.nz); https://xeno-canto.org: Greater Prairie Chicken by Ross Gallardy, 2019; https://avocet.integrativebiology.natsci.msu.edu: Mitred Parakeet by Pamela C. Rasmussen, 2008; wikipedia.org: Razorbill by Lawrence Shove, 1965; musical notation of Passenger pigeon vocalization by Wallace Craig, 1911.

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released March 3, 2022

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Marek Hlaváč Prague, Czechia

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