Journalism of Courage
Australian couple – Andrew Skeoch and Sarah Koschak’s professional life speaks of a passion for nature. For the last 20 years,they have been recording bird sounds from wildlife sanctuaries all over the world and promoting the same through their independent record label,Listening Earth. On Listening Earth’s blog,one can see detailed posts about each of their journeys. They visited Pune on Tuesday to give a talk on birdsong at a session organised by Foliage Outdoors.
When I met Sarah in 1989,we knew we had to do something together. She worked as a manager of a handcrafts shop while I taught voice and meditation classes,” says Skeoch. They lived in the bush outskirts of Melbourne. “Eventually we established our independent label Listening Earth with the idea of weaving my interests in music and nature,and Sarahs talent for photography into a business that could sustain us, he adds.
Soon,they moved out of their small cottage and into a four-wheel drive for a year on the road. For our next album,we thought of compiling music completely from nature sounds. With music,nature sounds become relegated as atmospheric background for most listeners. The music was a distraction it had to go, Skeoch says. Tall Forest was their first purely nature sound CD which had sounds of owls and possums. This has now been followed by over 50 albums and nearly 20 years of nature sound recording.
Ask him about how easy it is to get permissions and he says, In Australia,no permissions are required. But in India,we got to work at National Parks only after speaking to authorities at various levels. In India,the couple have recorded birdsong in Rann of Kutch,Nagarhole,Karnataka,Goa and the Deccan region.
