Email forwarded by Dr. Lalith Perera.
Is there
something atavistic about an earthbound creature’s fascination with flying?
Could this be why birds have such a grip on our imagination? Think of it –
Shakespeare’s starlings and jackdaws – Rossini’s thieving magpie – Lewis
Carroll and the dodo….The Owl and the Pussycat …Messiaen’s extraordinary
musical aviary … we’re always adding to the list. Somehow, it
seems, our minds are refreshed and perplexed by birds. Although profoundly
different we seek out similarities with their behaviour; then, perversely,
we decide to envy their singularity; we ponder their
savagery, then wonder if we should follow their example; even as we hunt
them, we marvel at their resilience – windblown scraps flying against a
howling gale, or sandmartins snuggling together in deep domesticity. ThE
evening’s edition of Words and Music is an exploration of all things
featherbrained – an all too human swoop from Wallace Stevens’
blackbird to the singing crows in Disney’s Dumbo; from the ambivalent sweetness
of the dove you can hear in Du Fay or Penalosa to the slight and sensual
figure of a wading girl that James Joyce transforms into a seabird.
Whether a lark ascending makes your heart leap or whether you’re
stirred by the brassy lure of a buzzard, prepare to take wing.
Happy
bird watchers.
Over
to you.
Lalith
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