The Alan Sondheim Mail Archive

Kalakotkas, Osprey


Foofwa sent us the following link:

http://pontu.eenet.ee/player/kalakotkas.html

- A beautiful osprey nest on the border of Estonia and Latvia
- There were many birds in the background
- I thought I would play sarangi with the birds
- Well aware was I that the birds could never hear me
- Nonetheless I persevered in my accompaniment
- In Osprey1, I am working more with imitation
- But in Osprey2, I have composed a little tune as well
- Many times I have played with and for birds
- Many times they have answered me and we play together
- This time, I was at the mercy of the birds
- They would never hear whatever I played
- But I wasn't play for myself, I was playing for you as well
- And so I wanted to honor Estonia and Latvia, and you
- And above all, I wanted to honor the kalakotkas, the osprey
- I did not want to make a mistake!
- I wanted everything to be as perfect as possible!
- I wanted to touch nature through artificial technology
- I wanted here, the slightest hint of nature as well
- And of wilderness and of wild places I would never see
- Wild places I would honor with my playing
- Here are the two singings of the sarangi

http://www.alansondheim.org/osprey1.mp3
http://www.alansondheim.org/osprey2.mp3

- And again, here is the living bird in her nest

http://pontu.eenet.ee/player/kalakotkas.html
http://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalakotkas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzFwv8HzMi0
http://www.kotkas.ee/Kalakotkas.htm
http://www.looduskalender.ee/forum/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=402
https://sites.google.com/site/latestfromestlat/english/february-2012

Thank you Foofwa and thank you everyone at Eagles Across Borders

Fifth Avenue, Dean Street, Urbanic

i play sarangi and bow

http://www.alansondheim.org/urbanic.mp3

i awake from troubled sleep my body in incredible pain
the doctors can't find anything wrong
i've got kirba afaa xonso on the boombox
it's pouring outside and i can't see because of pain
i can't hear because of pain i can't feel anything
if you know me you know my pain which swells and crashes
quick it's time to pull out sarangi against the rain
there's noise on the streets, trucks and construction everywhere
when i sleep i hear jackhammering everywhere and wake all nervous
time i say for sarangi but it's so hard to play i say time for it
i do my best but what can one person do against an entire city
if bombs weren't illegal bombs would be everywhere
i drag myself and my instrument and begin to play
kirba afaa xonso in my mind stays in my mind
i will play music bombs and gunfire to death and then feel nothing
the bow goes bip bip the bow goes back and forth like rockets
the noise in the streets gets louder they are trying to drown me out
i am furious with them in this terrible pain and move to second octave
i am furious and move into third and begin to gain traction
my sarangi treads do not slip and my fingers ring strong and true
my fingers drive furrows deep into wood and my hands cut down bodies
i listen to kirba afaa xonso on the radio machine and the machine
i silence kirba afaa xonso and begin to play i am against the world
quick it's time all i have is bow and sarangi all i have is sound
they do not take sound from me they add sound to me
they add sound everywhere in my illness and my illness
look just there they have added sound i play sarangi and bow
i play sarangi and bow i play sarangi and bow