Spirits of the Forest

“As Radio 3 goes Into the Forest, the In Tune Mixtape evokes the spirit of the forest with 30 minutes of specially curated music interspersed with natural sounds of the forest. Music from the Rainforest people of Northern Congo begins and ends the sequence, with a call to the creatures of the forest, and the complex polyphonic singing of the Spirit Ceremony. Also, Rameau evokes forest birds on the harpsichord, Bold Sir Rylas goes hunting for wild boar, we hear marimbas fashioned from the Colombian Rainforest, Canadian composer Jonas Bonnetta goes walking in the forest, Finnish singers Varttina do some tree-hugging, and Saint-Saens goes cuckoo. More notes on the music: 1. Forest call of the Mbenjele people of Ibamba village, Northern Congo: recorded in 2012 by Radio 3's Music Planet team 2. Varttina: the song is about fir trees in the forest - one has died, but new ones are growing. Yet the dead fir will not be forgotten - its memory will live on in this song. 3. Carnival of the Animals: the Cuckoo movement, accompanied by some real specimens from the BBC's wonderful Natural History Library 4. Bold Sir Rylas: a jolly hunting expedition for wild boar ends in a brutal murder. 5. Rameau depicts the 'conversation' of nightingales on the harpsichord 6. A song from the forests of Colombia, accompanied by marimbas made from the local wood 7. Jonas Bonnetta is a composer living in a remote cottage in the forests of eastern Ontario. 8. We finally return to the Mbenjele people of the Congo Rainforest. In this ceremony for the Spirits of the Forest, they sing music inspired by the calls of the birds and other animals. It is music totally free from any influences from the west or anywhere else - pretty rare nowadays.”