Call and Response is now live!
Call and Response
It is a time of great change, and it is a time of listening deeply—to each other and to the sounds around us. In our suddenly quieter world, the sound of the birds can now be heard more clearly.
This project invites you to stop and listen. Call and Response refers to the actual format of this project—my call and received responses from around the world—as well as themes of community, connection and conversation.
I called on friends from around the world, inviting them to send one minute videos of local bird sounds. The 100 video contributions create unique sound compositions, combining a wide range of species and dialogues with videos from Africa, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, New Zealand, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Birds are environmental indicators. For this reason, humans have always been attracted to birdsong and bird sounds. A diverse bird community signals a healthy environment. We are reminded how essential it is and has always been to live in harmonious balance. Call-and-response patterns are found in every culture’s communication and music and in all forms of sharing and democracy around the globe.
Collected here https://www.callandresponseproject.org/, the video contributions create unique sound compositions combining a wide range of species and conversations not heard together anywhere else in the world. Each time the project site is refreshed, a new composition is created.
In Call and Response, each collaborator’s video submission allows us as viewers to share in the precise moment it was recorded. What they were hearing, letting us be virtually side by side for a moment, listening together. My warm thanks to all who submitted videos! Special thanks to William van Roden, collaborating consultant and to Tom J. Hole for web development. Call and Response was created with generous support from TOTAH.