Attempts to mingle man made music and the music of nature is nothing new. Field recordings like Emil Klotsch can meld the sounds of nature with electronics effect nicely to make interesting ambient recordings. More organically, Paul Winter ’s duets with whales and wolves are fascinating new age experiments hinting that the organizing of tone and rhythm are not exclusive to humans.

Matthew Lundy, a member of Children of The Drone and recording here under A Tiny Window does something similar to the Winter experiments. BeesBirdsSaz is a collection of recordings performed in a East Kent meadow along with the sound of birds and the swarming of bees. They are delightful pastoral improvisations whether alone or accompanied by chickens. Occasionally human generated sounds like planes or cars intrude but it only emphasizes the interconnectedness of the music and the environment. Matthew’s instrument of choice is the saz, a form of Persian lute. It is an intimate sounding instrument. The birds seem to have liked it.

BeesBirdsSaz is available from the Internet Archive in MP3 and Ogg Vorbis format.

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