BIRD MUSIC

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Dear friend,

I hope all is well at your end!

I have fallen out of my habit of writing monthly newsletters, and am trying to get back to it. Writing takes up my days, but it is the writing of my book. I now only have a few chapters left.

It is a book about Spiritual Ecology, told through the lens of 12 people's practices. Each month I interview a person that has a particular way of being and doing that I find important in these times. The book will celebrate an awakening to our living world through our senses, shared stories, old myths, regeneration, rich imagining, traditional knowledge, deep listening and much more.

The person of the month of May is Bjarne Bo Jensen, an ornithologist and teacher at Folkeuniversitetet. I met him at a course about the communication of birds in the early spring of 2023. He not only knew so much about various species and when, why and how birds sing, he was also passionate about music, especially compositions inspired by the masters themselves.

Bjarne and I were supposed to meet in his local bird tower for an interview. He was, however, hospitalized and sadly passed away from pneumonia and cancer. During the summer of 2023, I went to his house and interviewed his wife, Anette. It was a lovely meeting and conversation.

My chapter for May is about deep listening, the language of the more-than-humans, bird myths and personal stories, and about the dedication of a man to these feathered beings. It is also about loss and grief.

In 1780, Goethe wrote the poem Ein Gleiches on the wall of a mountain hut. It is about that particular moment, when the birds all get quiet. Here is Bjarne's free translation of the poem:

Over alle tinder

hviler roen
Selv i trætoppene

sanser du næppe

en luftning
Og fuglene bliver

tavse i skoven

Vent kun, snart

hviler du også.

P.C. Skovgaard, Syngende lærke. Dekorativt udkast, 1815-75

Collection of SMK

To me, May is the ultimate month of bird song and flowers, an abundance of scents and music. The skylark, the nightingale, the cuckoo and the black bird are favorites this particular month, but it is the raven that accompanies me all year round. It flies in and out of my chapters.

At Stengården (a farm and our new home), ravens live in the neighboring forest, Bidstrupskovene. They come to us, too. Their coarse sounds are new to me, and intriguing, hence I am practicing my raven call. This weekend, I went stark naked (had been skinny dipping in our lake) into the woods by the lake and had a conversation with two ravens for a while. They answered me, seriously! All the while I was eaten by mosquitos. It felt like the beginning of a new chapter.

With a raven heart under your tongue, you will be able to understand the language of birds, an old saying goes. I say: With a open heart, attentive ears and a certain degree of porosity, you can get the language of birds under your skin.

With love,

Birgitte

Unknown artist, En fugl på sin rede i en skov, 1725-1824

Collection of SMK

MUSIC, INSPIRED BY BIRDS

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I have put together a playlist for your summer ears!

The top three are favorites of mine, the remaining are Bjarne's favorites. Many musicians have been inspired by bird song, so the playlist is not at all representative of all these fruitful meetings of the human and the more-than-human. Enjoy!