THE impact of birds and birdsong in Scottish folklore and conventional music is to be checked out in an unique commission for Edinburgh Tradfest.
In Two For Joy, acclaimed harpist and author Ailie Robertson will commemorate how birds have actually offered a sense of time and location to Scots through the ages.
Speaking to the Sunday National, Robertson explained that scientists have actually just recently revealed that of natural noises, bird calls were those frequently mentioned as assisting individuals recuperate from tension.
Yet, regardless of their value for individuals’s psychological health and for the environment, bird numbers are decreasing dramatically in Scotland and somewhere else in the UK, with some types losing as much as 95% of their numbers.
It is a crisis that Robertson wishes to accentuate in her performance tomorrow at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre.
“For centuries, birds and bird songs have inspired poets, artists and writers, particularly in Scotland, and I want to shed light on this as they are very important for our health and wellbeing, as well as an important indicator of the health of the world around us,” she said.
“A big study in 2022 by researchers at King’s College London proved a strong link between being able to hear and see birds and our mental health. It showed how the sight of birds and birdsong can lift the spirits and demonstrates how important it is that we preserve our bird species and people have access to birdsong.”
Although Robertson understood there were referrals to birds and birdsong in Scottish culture, even she was surprised at the quantity she found when investigating the celebration commission.
“I was surprised at how many there were, especially the number of references to birds – In Rabbie Burns’s song Now Westlin Winds, there are references to nine different birds within the text, and there are many examples like that,” she said. “It goes to show how integral a part birds play in our understanding of place and time and Scottish landscape. That’s something I always find interesting when I travel because you hear different types of birdsong and see different birds, even if the soundscape you have on your own doorstep is so familiar you may not notice it all the time.”
Robertson said the hardest part of the commission was choosing which tunes to consist of in the performance.
“In terms of repertoire, there is so much out there with many songs going back hundreds of years,” she said. “Birds and birdsong have influenced poets and songwriters for so long.”
Robertson started with a list of around 50 tunes she wished to consist of however has actually whittled it down to tunes and tunes about 16 various types of Scottish birds.
“It’s still a huge number but there is so much it could have been a five-hour concert,” she said. “There are lots of lovely Gaelic songs we found that imitate the sound of birds and one we are doing is a keening, a mourning song which imitates the call of the Red Shank.”
There are likewise Gaelic tunes from St Kilda and an old Gaelic tune about emigration that referrals the cuckoo’s luck in having the ability to return once again each year.
Contemporary tunes include, too, consisting of one about a wren by Karine Polwart based upon a senior tale.
However, Robertson presumes less tunes are discussed birds and birdsong than in the past due to the fact that they have actually ended up being less substantial markers of time and location.
“Our lives are just so much more urban – so unless you have a job outdoors, maybe you don’t see the connection between the different birds and the changing of the season and how much they signify for us,” she said.
“However, I think most people are still interested when they see the great birds of prey or a flock of geese flying overhead, or even just in experiencing the simple joy of watching birds at a feeder outside their window.”
She explained that throughout the Covid lockdowns when individuals were stuck at home, birds handled more value and bird tune might be heard more plainly due to the fact that of the absence of traffic.
“They almost became our entertainment and we had the time to pay attention to them again because everything really slowed down.
“We often take them for granted but if we slow down and pay attention to them it is wonderful.”
Robertson included: “As we have more and more climate pressure, I hope it is something that people start to engage with more and realise it is so important to protect these birds because once they are lost, they are lost – it would be so sad not to have those different songs in the air any more.
“I hope the concert will encourage people to think more about bird life and the huge loss it would be if birds were no longer around.”
