This feature is a perfect restorative after the US Presidential elections. It conveys the passion of birdwatchers who, for more than two decades, have been trying to sight and record the legendary New Zealand kokako (which Kiwis pronounce 'korkakoo', 'kookahku' or even 'kawkahkkiew'...).
The program--itself a kind of musical composition--blends first-person narration, gritty archival tape, bird calls, and silence. It relaxes, yet at the same time enthralls as we strain to hear distant birds in the forest, or imagine, from one brief call on an old cassette played over and over, the ghostly beauty of the kokako in the "Lost World" of South Island, New Zealand.
After a time, even the cheerful voices of the New Zealanders start to strike the ear as a so many quiet, gentle chirps--heard over an ethereal bed of forest ambience and Tibetan bells.
Review of Grey Ghost
Alex van Oss
Posted on November 11, 2004 at 04:20 AM
This feature is a perfect restorative after the US Presidential elections. It conveys the passion of birdwatchers who, for more than two decades, have been trying to sight and record the legendary New Zealand kokako (which Kiwis pronounce 'korkakoo', 'kookahku' or even 'kawkahkkiew'...).
The program--itself a kind of musical composition--blends first-person narration, gritty archival tape, bird calls, and silence. It relaxes, yet at the same time enthralls as we strain to hear distant birds in the forest, or imagine, from one brief call on an old cassette played over and over, the ghostly beauty of the kokako in the "Lost World" of South Island, New Zealand.
After a time, even the cheerful voices of the New Zealanders start to strike the ear as a so many quiet, gentle chirps--heard over an ethereal bed of forest ambience and Tibetan bells.