How might we listen to songbirds?
Shared by LOUISE PHILLIPS
How might we listen to songbirds? Many Sundays ago, at a local reservoir I witnessed rows of 162 ten metre high hooked posts, some with vintage bird cages with trapped birds. It was hot – all other living beings sought refuge in the shade. Songbird clubs and competitions are popular in South East Asia, a colonial legacy started by British Armed Forces families (Ng, 2018). The birds are meant to sing when hoisted high. Songbird enthusiasts love their birds’ songs and orchestrate when and where the birds sing. The tradition is male dominated, and brings solace for retirees. Anthropocene humans hold captive other species purely for pleasure. Haraway (2016) suggests “we need to make kin symchthonically, sympoetically” (p. 102) and that kin are “uncanny, haunting, active” (p. 103). From Angelou (1983), I hear
“The free bird leaps…” and
“…thinks of another breeze”.
I linger with the haunting call of the koel.
References
Angelou, M. (1983). “Caged Bird” from Shaker, Why Don’t You Sing? Random House.
Haraway, D. J. (2016). Staying with the trouble: Making kin in the Chthulucene. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Ng, H. (2018, October 10) The Last Bird-Singing Clubs of Singapore. Culture Trip. Retrieved from https://theculturetrip.com/asia/singapore/articles/the-last-bird-singing-clubs-of-singapore/