Cucu: meaning the Spanish vocalisation of the sound of frogs (like in the chant cucu, cantaba la rana, cucu, debajo del agua translated as cucu, sang the frog, cucu, under the water), represents for us the capacity of language and culture to convey a human relationship to nature.
Sonic: referring to the nature of sound and representing for us the full spectrum of animal vocalisation: as sound waves registered by biological science, as part of the natural soundscape and as a feature of language and song.
We are a collaboration, interested in identifying how the multiple sonic registers of animal sound can be harnessed to bring different groups of people together in Colombia: scientists, musicians, farmers, city dwellers and indigenous peoples to work towards a common purpose, which is the exploration of the transformative potential of biodiversity.
From a scientific point of view, the vocalisation records of animals such as frogs and bats can be used for biological identification because such signals are unique for each species (Bioacoustic Data).
By measuring acoustic signals we are aiming to construct an acoustic baseline of some localities in Colombia that can then advance our understanding of biodiversity.
From a social perspective, by asking people to send in their own recordings and oral narratives of these same animal sounds we want to provide a lived, human perspective and an opportunity for the expression of personal as well as communal histories and cultural traditions, all via the same sonic medium (Narratives).
From an artistic perspective we aim to share recordings of animal sounds with musicians and producers so as to encourage creative dialogues and new musical compositions that explore the potential of these sonic registers to make connections between these scientific and social perspectives and to be translated into messages of hope to a wider, international audience (Music).
We believe that through this inclusive and interconnected approach, which combines the full sound spectrum, differences of knowledge and expertise can be harnessed for the purposes of finding shared understandings and appreciations of biodiversity and ways of working together for its protection.
Cucusonic works in partnership with The University of Manchester, the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology and In Place Of War, thanks to the support of the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). Additional support comes from Finnish institution Kone Foundation (Saari Residence).
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