Hear that lonesome whipporwill...
March 31, 2016 6:44 PM Subscribe
The illegal birdsong cafes of Istanbul -- "In Istanbul, men keep birds locked away in cages to encourage ever more mournful songs – and then gather to listen to their sorrow. Two photographers [Cemre Yesil and Maria Sturm] teamed up to chronicle this secretive subculture"
This sounds like an April Fool's Day hoax authored by Borges.
posted by threeants at 7:14 PM on March 31, 2016 [49 favorites]
posted by threeants at 7:14 PM on March 31, 2016 [49 favorites]
Nice to see contemporary artists riffing on mid-period Borges.
posted by mr_roboto at 7:15 PM on March 31, 2016 [18 favorites]
posted by mr_roboto at 7:15 PM on March 31, 2016 [18 favorites]
Fuckin' JINX!!!!!
posted by mr_roboto at 7:15 PM on March 31, 2016 [13 favorites]
posted by mr_roboto at 7:15 PM on March 31, 2016 [13 favorites]
It is now April 1 in Turkey. Just sayin'.
posted by Bringer Tom at 7:18 PM on March 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Bringer Tom at 7:18 PM on March 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
Fuckin' JINX!!!!!
Yeah, no kidding; one of the seemingly least probable I can remember.
posted by jamjam at 7:25 PM on March 31, 2016 [8 favorites]
Yeah, no kidding; one of the seemingly least probable I can remember.
posted by jamjam at 7:25 PM on March 31, 2016 [8 favorites]
I don't think it's an April Fools joke; it's just Art. (Which may be in some respects indistinguishable.)
posted by mr_roboto at 7:26 PM on March 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by mr_roboto at 7:26 PM on March 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
Lucky you, if you have never been the victim of an April Fool's joke staged weeks or even months in advance.
Still, this sadly rings true as a thing human beings would do. It actually dovetails so closely with a story I am working on that it is almost scary. Cruelty is a currency which is not, after all, subject to inflation.
posted by Bringer Tom at 7:29 PM on March 31, 2016 [4 favorites]
Still, this sadly rings true as a thing human beings would do. It actually dovetails so closely with a story I am working on that it is almost scary. Cruelty is a currency which is not, after all, subject to inflation.
posted by Bringer Tom at 7:29 PM on March 31, 2016 [4 favorites]
Well let's hear some misery tweets then
posted by oceanjesse at 7:39 PM on March 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by oceanjesse at 7:39 PM on March 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
Songbird in a golden cagefrom "My Songbird", penned by Jesse Winchester, performed here by Emmylou Harris.
She'd prefer the blue..
How I crave the liquor of her song.
Poor bird who has done no harm
What harm could she do ?
She shall be my prisoner her life long.
posted by Nerd of the North at 7:44 PM on March 31, 2016 [5 favorites]
I'm kinda sad now.
Also, publishing photographs of people listening to ethereal birdsong is like publishing a recording of people viewing an art gallery. I think it misses the point.
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:37 PM on March 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
Also, publishing photographs of people listening to ethereal birdsong is like publishing a recording of people viewing an art gallery. I think it misses the point.
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:37 PM on March 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
If one wanted to see the book, I guess one would direct their gaze here-ish. Comes across as maybe a bit, ah, precious?- and there are no birds pictured whatever- but I'd guess it's 'real'.
posted by hap_hazard at 9:31 PM on March 31, 2016
posted by hap_hazard at 9:31 PM on March 31, 2016
This is horrible. Keeping animals locked up and then listening to their screams.
My wife has been an avid birdwatcher for years and has been slowly bringing me into this world. I've now gotten to the point at being quite good at identifying birds by their calls, or sometimes by the way they fly or run on the ground.
My favorite is the long musical male Chaffinch call, especially the distinctive ending. It is one of the markers of the beginning of spring. Radio silence in winter (even though I spotted many hopping in the trees) and then suddenly in early March, the call was everywhere.
My wife loves the mournful call of the yellowhammer. If we do hear one (they are not so common in the UK anymore but we saw them everywhere in the Netherlands) we'll both stop and listen.
The most common calls in our area are of course the robins marking their territory, the flocks of blue tits and the blackbirds. We are lucky to have a river flowing outside our window and one of the first calls we hear in the morning is the Dipper in the stream, flying up and down with his short wings and surveying his watery territory.
We have become so attuned to the sounds of birds, that we both stopped suddenly once and decided that something was "off" about all the bird calls outside the window. It was alarm calls we heard, and looking out the windows, large herons had indeed landed in the stream. (We know these herons too who nest in a nearby forest and sometimes visit other nearby lakes)
Julian Huxley, If I recall correctly, in his book on Bird-watching and Bird behavior, notes that to learn the songs of birds is to always be accompanied, never alone, as you walk through the woods.
Birds and their sounds and calls are one of the most visible manifestations of magic in the world. The urge to bottle up that magic and suffocate it seems to me to stem from desires that are dark and twisted.
posted by vacapinta at 1:46 AM on April 1, 2016 [19 favorites]
My wife has been an avid birdwatcher for years and has been slowly bringing me into this world. I've now gotten to the point at being quite good at identifying birds by their calls, or sometimes by the way they fly or run on the ground.
My favorite is the long musical male Chaffinch call, especially the distinctive ending. It is one of the markers of the beginning of spring. Radio silence in winter (even though I spotted many hopping in the trees) and then suddenly in early March, the call was everywhere.
My wife loves the mournful call of the yellowhammer. If we do hear one (they are not so common in the UK anymore but we saw them everywhere in the Netherlands) we'll both stop and listen.
The most common calls in our area are of course the robins marking their territory, the flocks of blue tits and the blackbirds. We are lucky to have a river flowing outside our window and one of the first calls we hear in the morning is the Dipper in the stream, flying up and down with his short wings and surveying his watery territory.
We have become so attuned to the sounds of birds, that we both stopped suddenly once and decided that something was "off" about all the bird calls outside the window. It was alarm calls we heard, and looking out the windows, large herons had indeed landed in the stream. (We know these herons too who nest in a nearby forest and sometimes visit other nearby lakes)
Julian Huxley, If I recall correctly, in his book on Bird-watching and Bird behavior, notes that to learn the songs of birds is to always be accompanied, never alone, as you walk through the woods.
Birds and their sounds and calls are one of the most visible manifestations of magic in the world. The urge to bottle up that magic and suffocate it seems to me to stem from desires that are dark and twisted.
posted by vacapinta at 1:46 AM on April 1, 2016 [19 favorites]
another sad bird imprisoned for the entertainment of others
posted by boots at 5:08 AM on April 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by boots at 5:08 AM on April 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
Wait so is it an April Fool's day joke or not? (please tell me it is or I might just cry here at my desk for those birds)
posted by LizBoBiz at 7:04 AM on April 1, 2016
posted by LizBoBiz at 7:04 AM on April 1, 2016
There's a report on the same thing, unrelated to this book, from 2014 in the Christian Science Monitor.
So it would appear to be a real thing.
posted by Dext at 7:14 AM on April 1, 2016
So it would appear to be a real thing.
posted by Dext at 7:14 AM on April 1, 2016
Here's a longer version of the CSM article, including an audio slideshow.
Maybe I'm being insensitive, but I don't see what makes this crueler than keeping any sort of bird as a domestic animal.
posted by Theiform at 7:20 AM on April 1, 2016
Maybe I'm being insensitive, but I don't see what makes this crueler than keeping any sort of bird as a domestic animal.
posted by Theiform at 7:20 AM on April 1, 2016
Migratory birds are under a lot of pressure in Europe and elsewhere, due to all kinds of human activities. Learning more about these issues seems like a good start.
posted by sneebler at 7:55 AM on April 1, 2016
posted by sneebler at 7:55 AM on April 1, 2016
There was a house halfway round the world
And I was invited in for a small taste of gin
There was a hallway a thousand birds long
But the biggest one of all was in a cage too small
I asked the caretaker 'cuz he was their maker
He looked at me and laughed took another sip from his glass
He said 'Open up your ears and hearts
You put a big bird in a small cage and he'll sing you a song'
That we all love to sing along
To the sound of the bird that mourns
From Big Bird in a Small Cage - Patrick Watson
posted by rocket88 at 11:18 AM on April 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
And I was invited in for a small taste of gin
There was a hallway a thousand birds long
But the biggest one of all was in a cage too small
I asked the caretaker 'cuz he was their maker
He looked at me and laughed took another sip from his glass
He said 'Open up your ears and hearts
You put a big bird in a small cage and he'll sing you a song'
That we all love to sing along
To the sound of the bird that mourns
From Big Bird in a Small Cage - Patrick Watson
posted by rocket88 at 11:18 AM on April 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
He who bends to himself a joyposted by jamjam at 1:04 PM on April 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sunrise.
OK, assuming this is even real... does the whipporwill sing because it's sad? Does its song get more complex when it's sadder? Is its song comparable to "screaming"? Is it possible folks are too eager to anthropomorphize the birds way too much?
posted by 2N2222 at 2:13 PM on April 1, 2016
posted by 2N2222 at 2:13 PM on April 1, 2016
Chickadees have the most sparkling call but their song amounts to two plaintive notes with a minor feel. Yet so evocative and so unlike their chatter.
True, they can cast a glamour upon us -- after all, what we know of magic was taught to us by birds -- but, all the same, who can say what birds feel ?
posted by y2karl at 2:25 PM on April 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
True, they can cast a glamour upon us -- after all, what we know of magic was taught to us by birds -- but, all the same, who can say what birds feel ?
posted by y2karl at 2:25 PM on April 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
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