Michael Bublé and Mariah Carey have been surpassed on the Australian ARIA music charts by an album (专辑) that consists entirely of birdsongs. Songs of Disappearance features the voices of 53 birds, all threatened species, collected over more than 40 years and now turned into a lovely meditative (冥想的) recording.
The album has sold 2,000 copies so far. Songs of Disappearance is the result of a partnership between the Bowerbird Collective and David Stewart, who is responsible for collecting the birdsong recordings. All the money from the album sales goes to BirdLife Australia, in order to support and promote the latest version of The Action Plan for Australian Birds, a comprehensive review of the continent’s birds that has been published each decade since 1992.
Scan Dooley, national public affairs manager at BirdLife, thought the realization that these unique sounds could one day be silenced forever is very poignant (辛酸的). However, he described the album as a great opportunity to highlight the condition of the threatened birds in a much more upbeat way to a different audience than BirdLife can usually reach.
Australian birds suffer from historical and ongoing habitat loss. The Black Summer bushfires in 2019—2020 alone made 26 birds more threatened than they were ten years ago, including 16 on Kangaroo Island alone. And there is a significant population decline of 6 million for 17 bird species in the high altitude rainforests of Far North Queensland, including the lovely Fernwren.
Statistics like these are terribly depressing for the sense of helplessness they indicate. But at least Songs of Disappearance offers some practical solutions. Dooley believes the benefits extend beyond its support of BirdLife’s work. The greater value is bringing to the attention of a wider audience the beauty and wonder of the birds singing as more people are needed not just to take part in local conservation actions, but to demand the government step up and save the birds.
【小题1】What is Songs of Disappearance?| A．A book written by Sean Dooley. |
| B．A song released by a famous singer. |
| C．An album of David Stewart’s collections. |
| D．A comprehensive review of wildlife in Australia. |
| A．Bird population is large. | B．The situation is serious. |
| C．The album is well-received. | D．Protection efforts are ineffective. |
| A．Promoting wider awareness. | B．Supporting government actions. |
| C．Preserving voices of extinct species. | D．Providing fund for more environmentalists. |
| A．BirdLife Tells Stories of Hopelessness |
| B．Meditative Recording Sales Hit New Heights |
| C．Birdsong Album Tops Australian Music Charts |
| D．Australian Government Steps up to Deal with Wildfire |
