Okay, class: today’s reading includes a short but inspiring passage by Estevan Carlos Benson, who has lately been suggesting we treat our musical listening biome in the same way that we do our gut. Along the way, we get birdsongs and whistle bottles from Ecuador millennia ago and Peru today.
I’ll just let Estevan take it away, as my head is buzzing from all that’s here:
Birdsong and Mimetic Instruments – from XILITLA NOTES, SOUNDS AND CULTURE
But birdsong could reduce anxiety and paranoia. (Okay, maybe don’t watch Hitchcock first, but yes!) And along the way, he reimagines how we might define instruments.
The video here is from modern Cusco, but the instruments are based on a much older Incan tradition that continues through these artists now and the results are mind-blowing:
My sense is that even in modern electronic instruments, a great deal of what makes something satisfying — given theoretically unlimited possibilities — is qualities from nature and the voice. We know that’s part of why a filter envelope or squelch may give us some glee. But what’s great about Estevan’s piece is that it encourages us to think outward and expand these ideas rather than re-tread the parts we already know.
Go check his full writing here, as it’s all terrific. Instant subscribe.
And previously on CDM, Estevan has been teaching us how to create beautiful UIs (again, no AI needed!). (Plus I realize I first wrote about him in 2007, so I need to erm fix that video embed.)
Not near any singing birds? Here are some in the Peruvian Amazon: