Lee Ranaldo doesn’t take into account himself a birder – within the conventional sense. As a famend musician, author, and visible artist and one of many three founding members of the enduring rock band Sonic Youth, Ranaldo’s connection to the avian kingdom lies within the inventive realm.
Ever fascinated by birds, Ranaldo as an alternative calls himself a “whistler”, imitating fowl tunes at any time when potential. “I grew up with canaries,” he says, “and essentially the most particular factor was after they would begin to sing.”
An completed multi-media artist with a profession spanning over 4 many years, Ranaldo is keyed into the musical custom of individuals turning birdsong into melody for compositions. So, it’s solely pure that Ranaldo would himself – in partnership with Hollywood music supervisor Randall Poster, Rebecca Reagan, Elliot Bergman, Stewart Lerman – be pushed to co-produce The Birdsong Challenge, a historic and unprecedented outpouring of creativity by greater than 200 musicians, actors, literary figures, and visible artists, all to have a good time the enjoyment and inspiration birds convey to our lives whereas shining a lightweight on what birds inform us in regards to the well being of our planet.
Ranaldo labored with Randall Poster over many years on various things, each as a solo artist and through his time as a member of Sonic Youth. Collaborations embrace Todd Haynes’ I am Not There and, extra lately, the tv present Vinyl, which aired a couple of years earlier than the pandemic. Although Poster has a really massive community to attract from, he was trying to accomplice with somebody who would additional lengthen that outreach in an impactful approach. As a seasoned and profitable artist, Ranaldo was greater than well-suited for the position. And so, The Birdsong Challenge was underway.
Quick ahead a couple of years later and the superb assemblage of paintings for the birds has lately been awarded a GRAMMY. Music packaging veterans and For the Birds: The Birdsong Challenge field set designers Jeri and John Heiden of SMOG Design attended the 2024 ceremony to personally settle for the award for Greatest Boxed or Particular Restricted Version Package deal. “I used to be so happy that The Birdsong Challenge was acknowledged on the Grammys – it’s such an enormous achievement,” Ranaldo says. “The response to threatened avian habitats, the popularity that ’so go the birds, go we’, if you’ll, was heartening.”
Music has lengthy been a strong medium for human expression, able to evoking feelings, telling tales, and connecting individuals throughout cultures and generations. It’s each in and of nature, and seemingly the proper automobile for driving the type of consciousness and motion crucial to satisfy this second – and past. “The Birdsong Challenge hasn’t concluded but. The mission and applications associated to it – all to profit the Nationwide Audubon Society – proceed this yr and into subsequent. The bundle design was ingenious, so it was nice to see Jeri and John Heiden acknowledged for his or her fantastic work.”
This isn’t the primary time Ranaldo has taken inspiration from the indicators of environmental disequilibrium. All through his 40+ yr profession, he has developed a deep appreciation for the wealthy tapestry of music present in numerous locations and areas. Within the fall of 2012, Ranaldo observed unusual sounds coming in by way of the window panes of his residence in decrease Manhattan. Upon venturing open air, he was instantly offered with the uncommon alternative to file what he later titled the Hurricane Sandy Transcriptions.
Whereas we’re conversant in the bodily influence Hurricane Sandy had because it ravaged the streets of New York Metropolis, Ranaldo tuned into the storm’s aural impact, its winds vibrating off of buildings, hearth escapes, and different parts of the encompassing infrastructure and creating a novel soundscape. Impressed by this pure symphony, he took it a step additional and got down to create a musical composition for a wind orchestra, weaving collectively the harmonies of the storm together with his personal inventive expression. The end result was a collection of mesmerizing musical items that melded the uncooked energy of the hurricane wind with Ranaldo’s distinctive sonic landscapes.
The Birdsong Challenge likewise affords a really distinctive listening and visible expertise. The mix of bird-themed paintings, birdsong, human-created music spanning a number of musical genres and aural experiences, together with Americana, pop, people, new classical, and spoken phrase, creates a charming and immersive audio-visual journey. Every contribution showcases the distinctive and private relationship one can have with these awe-inspiring creatures. The exploration of birds and birdsong and their integration into these totally different modes of expression is a testomony to the ability of artwork to transcend boundaries and foster a deeper understanding of our surroundings. In a time when the conservation of nature and the mitigation of local weather change have develop into essential points, The Birdsong Challenge serves as a potent driver of the type of consciousness we have to convey extra individuals into the fold of motion on these points.
Ranaldo’s personal contribution to the mission is impressed by the work of his late buddy, poet Michael McClure. Titled “40 Songs”, the lyrics pull from McClure’s poem of the identical title, woven along with Ranaldo’s music. The piece speaks to impending loss and the concern of letting go – themes that aligned each with Ranaldo’s grieving of McClure’s passing and likewise the placing loss that’s been collectively felt attributable to declining fowl populations throughout the globe.
Ranaldo considers The Birdsong Challenge to be an unimaginable accomplishment and has enthusiastically included “40 Songs” into reveals and performances together with a short dialogue of the mission and the place individuals can study extra about it. “I’m doing what I can,” says Ranaldo. “The broader collective is realizing we’ve got to do one thing about this, and the hope is that The Birdsong Challenge can’t assist however elevate these points to the forefront.”
