Sometimes, living in a foreign country, in a small town, with no television to watch or malls to shop at, gives us volunteers plenty of time to do things we wouldn’t ordinarily have time, nay, desire to do. For example, I tend to make playlists in I-Tunes. Okay, I do love my computer. I never understood how people could have relationships with a piece of metal but I sort of get it now – and this is coming from a once self-professed luddite. I guess that since moving here my computer is my contact with home and so I love it like I would love my family if they were sitting here in front of me. (Although, if they were sitting here in front of me they’d probably be pretty pissed that they flew all the way to Rwanda and I’m sitting here typing on the bloody computer.) Okay….where was I? Oh yeah…I-Tunes. So I go through all 1504 songs in I-Tunes and I find things they have in common. You can do this too! Really…it’s fun….Most recently I made a play list called Body Parts. Included was Both Hands by Ani Difranco, Bubbly Toes by Jack Johnson, Ankle Tattoo by David Francey…you get the idea.
Stop here to let me answer the question I can hear clearly in your head “She’s gone all the way to Africa and this is how she spends her time?” Yes…er…no….sort of….not really….okay look – it gets dark at 6pm, I don’t like being out alone at dark, I have no t.v., I love to read but not even Oprah can spend this much time reading. I just need a distraction and while Ang has recorded the first season of Lost for me and I love it and am on episode 13, it does sometimes remind me of here and I get a bit scared of the invisible monsters and polar bears. Plus the music is scary. So, I have to find other ways to distract myself.
And since Christmas is right around the corner and I’ve spent almost four months listening to Jason talk about birds and looking at his pictures on the Internet, I thought I owed him a big thank you for helping me distinguish between a Grey Crowned Crane and a Pied Crow. What better way to thank someone when you are a volunteer sans amafaranga (money), thank a mix tape…..er…mixed CD.
I’ll be honest, I’ve spent hours (only sometimes. And, yes I know this makes me sound pathetic) putting together the perfect CD for someone. I know they get listened to as ambient noise and then discarded a few days later. They aren’t, like, fancy, gifts or anything. But I do put in a lot of effort into them. Partly because the art of the mix tape is slowly being lost. I used to spend hours taping Red Hot Chili Peppers and U2 and Peral Jamonto tapes in Grade 8 and would time things just right, hit pause so you didn’t hear the click, carefully label my tapes in volumes and put them on a shelf. But this effort isn’t needed now with I-Tunes. Something’s got to give. We can't just throw a few songs together, hit “Burn Disc” and walk away. Can we? Hasn’t there got to be more to it than that? I think so… so I give themed CDs. I know I’m not the only one, either….
So, I put in the same effort in a CD for Jason. It’s entitled Bird Songs and, as you’ll see, the titles – for the most part – I thought had to do with birds. I was wrong. Evidently not even The Byrids, themselves, know anything about Byrds. It was nice to know that my effort did not go unnoticed. Below are Jason’s impressions of the CD. Verbatim.
The Doves Return (Aine Minogue) – 6.9
Strangely evasive. The only migratory dove that could ‘return’ in the part of the world from which the music of this song implies it is from (Ireland), is the Turtle Dove. However, it is such a rare occurrence in Ireland, that they would ideally need to provide detailed field notes and photographic evidence if they expect their record to be accepted: How many doves? Where? Dates?
Flying (Blue Rodeo) – 6.5
Quite good. Very few tips on how to achieve it, however.
Mr. Tambourine Man (The Byrds) – 7.8
Very good, but, rather disappointingly, not actually about the Tambourine Dove.
The Wild Goose (The Cottars) – 7.0
The mark would be higher but they don’t specify which of the 38 species of wild goose they are referring to.
Red-winged Blackbird (David Francey) – 9.2
This is really very good. He doesn’t try to impersonate or describe the bird, he just associates it with significant events. And coincidence is very important.
Blackbird (Evan Rachel Wood) – 8.0
Good singing, however, it doesn’t quite reach the quality of the Beatles original. Did you know that the root notes of the first 8 chords are actually based on one variation of the song of the Blackbird?
Flying Upside-down(Griffin House) – 7.3
Feedback sandwich – well done for trying, but nothing natural can fly upside down. Not even a hoverfly, the most capable flying creature alive. But well done for trying.
Tailspin (The Jayhawks)– 5.2
Sorry the mark is so low, but tailspins are only capable in man-made flying machines.
Owl Waltz (Seabear) – 8.4
This is a really good effort. Quite a pretty song, with some bird sound effects at the end. Unfortunately 2 of the 4 species sampled aren’t actually owls. You’d think they’d get this checked, wouldn’t you?
Bare Branches (Spirit of the West) – 6.0
I really fail to see the connection. I hope this is not an attempt to imply that birds are responsible for damage to arboreal property.
Bird Cage (The Wallflowers) – 7.3 Quite good. But they need to underline that these contraptions are clearly not a good idea in general.
The Singing Bird (Sinead O’Connor) – 7.4
Well sung, as always, although the haircut was always a problem. You’d think that somebody who has a ‘singing bird’ might go to the trouble to find out what species it is, wouldn’t you? Did you know that over 30% of bird ‘pets’ for sale are actually taken from the wild, and the pet industry has led to the decline of at least 9 species worldwide, and the likely extinction in the wild of 2 in the very near future?
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