Phalarope inspires music
THE remarkable migration journey of Fetlar’s iconic bird – the red-necked phalarope – has inspired a special piece of music that will be performed by over 2,000 children at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Monday.
The wintering location of these rare breeding birds was a mystery until 2013 when a red-necked phalarope, fitted with a tiny geolocator, returned from the sea between the Galapagos Islands and Peru to its breeding ground on the small Shetland island.
The epic return journey of 16,000 miles had never before been recorded for a European breeding bird.
Malcie Smith of RSPB Scotland said: “When we started this project, we never expected to discover such an amazing migration journey.”
Now, a song-cycle, titled One Small Bird: Ballad of the Red-necked Phalarope and composed by Kate Stilitz and Jilly Jarman, will be performed during the Haringey Schools Music Festival.
The piece, made up of six songs the last of which is in Spanish, will see performers coming together from the two capital cities of London and Lima.
Stilitz said: “We had been exploring Andean Legends which tell wonderful tales of Hummingbirds and Condors when we stumbled across the BBC article about the migration of the red-necked phalarope – a small, obscure creature doing something heroic – and that’s where our song cycle began.”
The performances will involve choirs and young instrumentalists from 48 primary and secondary schools in Haringey, north London, along with the Borough’s youth Symphony Orchestra, Big Band, Steel Pan, guitar ensembles, youth choir Haringey Vox and 50 young musicians from Lima, Peru.
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