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composer’s mind. ‘The first time we filmed,
circumstances were conspiring against
us. We were late in the year, the birds
hadn’t turned up – and, all of a sudden, we
discovered this one nightingale, which, in the
dying moments of that evening, put on an
amazing performance,’ says Packham.
The duo and attendant crew used a heavy-
duty parabolic reflector dish to isolate this
usually secretive bird’s complex, mind-
blowing song. The result, says Packham, was
completely exhilarating.
‘It was one of the highlights of my year,’ he
says. ‘And then I put the headphones on Nitin
and I think it was a life-changing moment for
him, if I’m honest. The force, the power and
the beauty of that song – and in that moment,
when it had become a quest for us to find it
- was a real joy. I felt like I’d given him a gift,
being able to walk him to this front-row seat
at the best concert hall in the world.’
‘It was definitely a revelation,’ agrees
Sawhney. Did his study of this small but
formidable bird’s musicality enrich his own
craft as a composer? ‘Absolutely. Nightingales
work a lot with tension and release, and small
patterns of rhythm and melody that, when
they’re put together, can be fascinating.’
Not everyone gets to enjoy these front-
row experiences, sadly. City inhabitants in
particular are likely to miss the natural songs
that surround us. But, as research shows,
animals aren’t easily silenced. Studies reveal
that city birds have adapted over the past few
decades, upping the volume of their songs in
order to compete with noise pollution. And as
the rise of viral animal videos proves,
our pets are increasingly adept at
using our own music to communicate
with us – swaying, bouncing and
barking to our pop grooves.
‘We as naturalists and zoologists
have always considered animals’
musicality,’ points out Packham. ‘But
our study of the neuroscience behind
it is very much a fledgling area of
research, which is part of what’s so
exciting about it. This programme
has been made with the very first
scribblings in this field.’ For Sawhney,
it was imperative to learn from the
animals he studied and sampled,
rather than anthropomorphising
them. ‘I definitely didn’t want to
Disney-fy them,’ he says.
Wolves were found to
howl along to whale
song, while nightingales
can deliver mind-
blowing tunes. Below:
presenters Sawhney
(left) and Packham