Wednesday 25 April 2012

Chatelherault Song

Chatelherault Song (Click on to visit SoundCloud).




The song was recorded at the Ancient Oaks in Chatelerhaut near Hamilton, Scotland. Takes a wee minute to get going and is jolly enough. Some boys passed at one point but I pressed on. I wanted sound to express the kinship with the trees. I don't think I succeeded (sometimes I lose the edge of a song I've started as soon as I switch on a recorder), but the walk and the photographs I took around the Ancient Oaks gave me a lift and a few ideas for blog posts, visual poems etc. So more to come hopefully. 

On the way up I was followed by some tiny birds. Really rather remarkable! At one point I had a robin, two blue tits and two finches (I think) flying around me, a metre or so from my face. I held out my hand. One of the finches fluttered up and hovered mid air just inches from my fingers, before backing up, rather comically, realising I had no food. A totally magical experience! I felt like a faux St Francis. I am a faux St Francis.

It's a place I'll return to because it inspires me, and gets me out of town into somewhere more peaceable. I may even become a nature poet. I may not. I would like to sing more songs with the birds up there however, perhaps even become as disinhibited as they are.

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