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An Exchange Between a Tibetan Lama and Orca
Obviously, a degree in biology does not make one an expert when it comes to communicating with animals. In our own research, anyone with a good idea about how to engage animals, deserves the opportunity to try it out. In 1986 we invited five musicians onto our boat/studio, with the intent of forming an ensemble to interact with the whales. We also invited a Tibetan Lama , to chant his Buddhist prayers through our underwater sound system into the water. Whereas the Western musicians elicited either a clear response or complete disinterest from the whales, the Lama's chanting often caused the orcas to turn dead silent. In this recording, two whales are huddled around our underwater speaker, listening in silence. Midway through the excerpt you can hear one orca informing the rest of his pod where he is. The excerpt was recorded from a dinghy 100 yards from the boat speakers, on a night with a wild current. The roar of water flowing against the hydrophones was so severe, that when I listened to the recording the next day, I deemed it an utter loss, and packed it away for 14 years. Recently, I've been listening to 70 hours of old tapes, and editing the most promising excerpts on a Mac. To aid the process, Digidesign donated to Interspecies a noise reduction filter that's done wonders for this music, not unlike peeling layers of varnish off an old painting. What you hear has been filtered for noise, with compression, EQ, and a little reverb added to soften the harsh edges.
—Jim Nollman, March 2000
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