The Sound of An Ecosystem

Morgan Maher
Living_Rainforest_large.jpg

 

Bernie Krause has spent over 30 years recording natural environments and wildlife. His library of natural sounds is the largest in the world with over 3500 hours of wild soundscapes and 15,000 species including chirruping microscopic underwater larvae and singing ants.

Krause’s Wild Sanctuary is dedicated to preserving, presenting and protecting the "voice of the natural world."

"It is only possible to halt the destructive process if we stop and listen and begin to re-learn that natural soundscapes are the sources of our language, our music, our spirituality and physical health."

Listen to the lush density of the Amazon rainforest at dawn or the shrill and ghostly apparitions of Gibbons in the Borneo rainforest.

Comments

Cameras, Chainsaws, Car Alarms...

Submitted by ST Frequency on Tue, 05/15/2007 - 12:04.

The lyre bird sings along to the melodies of the human world...

 

;)

st

"The future is frightening, but I feel fine." - The Dandy Warhols

acoustic ecology

Submitted by marbles on Thu, 05/17/2007 - 16:36.
Bernie Krause's terrific work is part of a field of fascinating artists working with recordings from the natural world. Their work tickles the imagination; it also will spur listeners to a deeper engagement with the planet they're listening to. Check out the Acoustic Ecology Institute for a wealth of resources and links to the work of Krause and others, as well as information about the science (and preservation of) natural sounds. The related indie label EarthEar offers online soundscapes as well as CDs for purchase. I'm not affiliated with these orgs in any way--a couple of years ago I stumbled across this material, and it's been a terrific goad to my imagination ever since.

Lyre Bird

Submitted by The Hermit on Thu, 05/17/2007 - 23:54.
Thanks ST for posting the Lyre bird link. I had forgotten about it. A few years ago I saw a World Wildlife Fund prototype of a television commercial against clear-cutting, during which this bird ran back and forth bellowing the cutting calls of a chainsaw due to its exceptional mimicry skills. I never saw that commercial on television, but since it was a WWF-UK piece I suspect it may only have been played in Great Britain. If anyone knows where a copy of this commercial can be found, please let me know.