Have you ever listened to a recording of bird singing? Or the waves of the ocean? Wolves’ howls, or thunder and rain? If you did, have you ever wondered if nature obtained compensation for producing this acoustic art which has found its way to your speakers?
A number of musicians and environmentalists have started to raise this last question – and try to make sure that his answer is yes. Nature sounds have long been sampled on musical songs of all genres, but in recent years, artists and cultural leaders have created a movement considering nature as a source of inspiration, but as a collaborator – the one who deserves both credit and remuneration.
Such an initiative was officially launched in mid-May, the day of the Full Flower moon: a new record company and a platform called future Sound of Nature, dedicated to “mixing the soul of electronic music with the rhythms of the earth”. The platform is an original idea of Eli Goldstein and Lola Villa, two electronic artists who connected as part of the DJS group for climate action.
“After having experienced what is happening on the dance floor and the type of magic that occurs there, we have always believed that it was a very special place for community construction around the climate and the recognition of the earth,” said Villa. “Eli and I wanted to create an organization or a platform where music could speak to this notion. And then also, how to give nature a role in our narration and in our business model? ”
In the future model of Sound of Nature, 20% of the revenues of each version will go to conservation or stewardship projects for the habitats presented in the recordings. The plan is that each version has a theme, said Villa, whether it is a location, a type of habitat, or perhaps perhaps a single species. The first version under the new label was its own EP, entitled Amazonía. Her eight tracks are built on recordings on the ground she took during two visits to the Peruvian and Colombian Amazon, and 20% of the profits will go directly to the Aboriginal Bora who welcomed her there.
The pocket of the Amazonia EP from Villa. With the kind authorization of FSON, design of Claudia Smith
This direct connection is an important part of what Goldstein and Villa try to create for artists and listeners. “It’s not just like” here are some sounds of nature, making music, “said Goldstein.” It is really a question of trying to create a deeper link with the earth and the communities where music is recorded, where nature is being collaborated. “
Whenever she played the Amazonía set live, said Villa, she gave her context to the landscapes and animals that are represented in what they listen to – including the threats they face. For example: “Some of these birds are threatened. What is it? ” She posed. “What does that do to the listening experience?”
The future sound of nature is not the only initiative aimed at raising nature as an artist and channeling the power of music in his protection. On the land day of last year, an initiative entitled Sounds Right was officially launched in partnership with Spotify, putting for the first time “nature” as a creator on the platform. With nearly 2 million monthly listeners, the page of nature artists includes EPs of purely natural sounds – such as Colombian tropical forests and Nepalese rivers – and a reading list of more than 60 collaborations, where nature is listed as a contributor to the tracks of artists going from Ellie Goulding to Aurora to Brian Eno.
Two months ago, the singer-songwriter Hozier became one of the last to join this initiative. He released a new version of a song from his first album, “Like Real People Do”, incorporating the sounds of birds, crickets, thunder and rain recorded in his house in Wicklow, Ireland. (To my sorrow, Hozier could not be joined for an interview.)
“Everyone has a history of nature,” said Iminza Mbwaya, the global program manager of the Sounds Right initiative, which is led by the United Nations Museum. As a musician herself, she has always been inspired by nature, she said. “Being able to credit it, being able to go through this creative challenge in the same way:” OK, what its nature will I include in my song, and why would I do that? “He opens a world of possibility.”
Mbwaya (Center) and the rest of the Sounds Right team won a Grand Prix for innovation at the Cannes Lions International Creativity Festival in France last month. With the kind permission of Mwabya Mbwaya
This includes treatment experiences with nature that are not necessarily positive. Rozzi, a songwriter-songwriter based in Los Angeles, connected with the right sounds when she was looking for a way to restore catastrophic fires of the earliest this year. His brother and sister-in-law lost their house in Altadena, one of the districts that underwent the worst impacts.
“Altadena is so special,” she said. “It is this magical place where you can live against the mountains … hence why it is a bit vulnerable.” If it was emotionally difficult to see the charred landscape after the fire, and the place where the house of her brother was in the past – there was only the fireplace left – she was also surprised to find a feeling of hope while listening.
“I was standing there with my phone, and it was raining all day, so there was dripping water and so many birds and wind in the trees,” she described. “I am a natural optimist, so maybe it’s just me – but I must say that I had the impression of being so aware of the capacity of nature to come back. And I considered this to be a metaphor for us too people. If we are part of nature, we must also have resilience in us. ”
The song she created with these sounds “Orange Skies – Chapter 2” is also a reimagination of an old song that she published in 2020, following another season of Fire Record. Unfortunately, she said, the message of the song only becomes more relevant. And although she heard a number of fans who found her cathartic, she did not want to take advantage of this message. “I wanted to use this song to give back.”
It seems fair, at least 50% of track royalties featuring nature must go to conservation and catering projects – but not necessarily in the places where the recordings come. During its first year, the initiative collected $ 225,000, which was channeled by the Earthpercent Foundation in projects in Colombia and other parts of the tropical Andes. This area was determined as a priority, as a hot spot of biodiversity which is also under a significant threat. During its second year, Mbwaya said, the project will concentrate half of its grants in the Amazon basin and half of the Congo basin.
The idea of crediting and compensating for nature as an artistic collaborator has certain elements of the rights of nature, an effort to extend legal rights to natural entities as a means of protecting them from exploitation and damage. Both the future sound of nature and sounds well tries to represent the interests of nature in their decision -making. For the future sound of nature, this will involve giving nature a seat to the board of directors – filled out by a human representative who will change each year. Similar mechanisms have been proposed on how we could give nature a voice in governance.
But the two groups do not suggest a legal framework to grant credit and payment beyond their individual initiatives. “It sounds well existing mainly as an initiative within pop culture and the nature conservation space. It is therefore anchored in this creative world first, and could then extend to a part of the legal world,” said Mbwaya. “But our objective, our objective, is not really to enter the legality of the establishment of the property of nature or the rights of nature in this sense.”
However, she hopes that the model could possibly spread to other creative industries – or even something like pharmaceutical products, where many ingredients are derived from plants and animals.
For the moment, the future sound of nature and the sounds well focused on the launch of more artists and to reach more listeners. In addition to the money that each flow generates for conservation, the future sound of the Villa of Nature hopes that music will help listeners to connect more deep with nature.
“I think that the beauty of music is that it can give us a language that we do not yet have in words – to love, how do we describe our relationship with nature?” Said villa. “In our words, it is always very divided. While music does not need words so that it transmits this notion that there is in fact no division. You can simply feel it. And that is the purpose of our work, to transmit this feeling of connection.”
– Claire Elise Thompson
No more exhibition
A separation stroke
Although I unfortunately could not speak to Hozier for this story (I know he is busy taking care of his bees, OK), we can all take advantage of this serene video to sing “Like Real People Do” live by a lake in Wicklow.
