Collaborating with Nature’s Symphony
After decades of collaborating with rock stars, Hollywood directors, and opera divas, Stewart Copeland, the former drummer of The Police, found a new group of collaborators: the sounds of nature.
The Listening Planet and Kingdom Orchestra
Copeland teamed up with The Listening Planet, a sound archive curated by naturalist Martyn Stewart. Together, they created “Wild Concerto,” a project that blends classical music and jazz with natural sounds.
- Collaborators: The Kingdom Orchestra is accompanied by a wild ensemble featuring the white-throated sparrow, the barn owl, the black-browed albatross, the Galapagos fur seal, the Andean titi monkey, the Antarctic penguin, the kookaburra of Cape Tribulation, the ocellated turaco, the black-eared jerboa, and the bone-crushing hyenas of Namibia’s Skeleton Coast.
- Recording Location: The album was recorded at the iconic Abbey Road Studios under the production of Ricky Kej.
Martyn Stewart: A Lifelong Devotion to Nature’s Sounds
Martyn Stewart, the founder of The Listening Planet, began recording nature sounds at age 11. His extensive archive now contains nearly 100,000 species from around the world. The Proyecto Listening Planet aims to preserve the planet’s fauna through sound recordings.
Stewart Copeland’s Musical Journey
Copeland started his career in the 1970s as a drummer with bands like Curved Air and Klark Kent, gaining fame as The Police’s drummer with hits like “Roxanne,” “So Lonely,” and “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.” After The Police disbanded, Copeland ventured into film scores, classical music, opera, and video game music. “Wild Concerto” reflects his diverse musical paths.
A Cosmopolitan Musical Vision Translated to Nature
With The Police, Copeland explored global music, incorporating rhythms like bossa nova, jazz, and reggae. The band’s cosmopolitan musical vision is now translated to nature in “Wild Concerto,” where a white-throated sparrow’s song above a glacier or Andean titi monkeys’ calls intertwine with orchestral melodies and eventually merge into a jazz-infused rhythm.
Consciousness Through Music and Preservation
“Wild Concerto” is not merely a musical project but also an auditory preservation and awareness initiative. Some species recorded by The Listening Planet face extinction or habitat loss due to climate change and human expansion.
Inspiration from Iconic Works
The kookaburras of Cape Tribulation and Namibian hyena gatherings are the true stars of this piece, reminiscent of Sergei Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” or Camille Saint-Saëns’ “The Carnival of the Animals.” Copeland’s experience with film scores, such as Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street” and Francis Ford Coppola’s “Rumble Fish,” shines through.
A New Symphony of Collaborators
Instead of dealing with the egos of bassists, guitarists, film directors, sopranos, and tenors, Copeland now collaborates with monkeys, hyenas, wolves, and a grand avian choir.
