Crow's
abandoned nest,
a plum tree.
Matsuo Basho
This sound Haiku has arisen due to a dangerous thing for me - a trip down memory lane. Several things and ideas happened at the same time, all based around the one theme - Crows.
I was in the garden and recently the large sycamore has gained some new residents - Crows, which I took some recordings of.
Then I began wondering about the term...A Murder of Crows, which for some reason led me down the infernal memory lane, stopping at a poem I learnt at school (aeons ago), the 'Twa Corbies'.
This poem always fascinated me and the original Scottish version appealed to the gruesome inquisitiveness in me as a child. Most versions of this ballad and the English version 'Three Ravens' are slow and forbidding, as the said Corbies discuss the rich pickings of a fallen Knight.
However, I always thought this was a jolly conversation as the Corbies get a slap up meal at the end and so my haiku ended up, by chance, as a jolly little tune based on an imagined chat between three crows.
If you prefer the more traditional tale here's a favourite version of mine -
Maddy Prior: Twa Corbies -
youtu.be/x5Ik8OrT2AU
All sounds used are in the public domain via the Freesound community together with my own field recordings, sounds and music
Artwork is created by data bending the audio file.