Making music with birds

An American musician has found unusual collaborators for his next score - songbirds of the Western Ghats.
Ben Mirin is working with Bengaluru-based bird ecologist V V Robin to create new beatbox music by mixing human vocal sounds with the natural meoldy of bird songs.
"It is a musical collaboration with birds. But I cannot be doing it live. We will record bird songs and then mix them with beatbox," Mirin told PTI.
He will soon embark on a week-long trip to the forests of Western Ghats where he will chase the songbirds to record their mellifluous outpouring.
Mixing human vocal percussion as done in beatboxing and those produced by birds into a single composition requires understanding of both the worlds of music and avians.

"It is important to understand the bird species and the nature of their calls. It is then mixed smoothly with human sounds that would gell well with their songs," says the young musician who is also a keen birder.

In New York, Mirin is composing music using local bird songs and his own voice.
Robin, who has been researching on birds of Western Ghats at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, says they already have a rich library of bird songs but with the project they are trying to reach out to a larger audience.
"We will create a multi-faceted storytelling package using photographs and videos to help spread awareness about birds. Songs are an important tool to connect with birds. It will also help in conservation," he says.