Scientists and Musicians Recreate Columbian National Anthem Using Animal Sounds- Glorifying Biodiversity
A biologist and music producer joined hands to create a project of a lifetime for Colombia, the host nation for the United Nations global summit on biodiversity, COP16. The event took place in Cali, Colombia in October 2024. A team of experts combined science and art to recreate the South American country’s national anthem with animal sounds to reflect on their wildlife biodiversity and promote conservation, per Smithsonian Magazine.
Biologist Santiago Monroy of the National University of Colombia and music composer Jose Alvarez trekked for 14 days, driving and hiking while resting for a day, to collect and document the sounds of birds like the oriole blackbird and the masked mountain tanager, jaguars, cane toads, and monkeys. This made up over 20 hours of ambient noise with 700 different sounds by the end of the two-week expedition, from the Eastern Plains to the Chingaza moor and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. The recreated national anthem constituted a beautiful compilation of sounds from 41 birds, three amphibians, one jaguar, and some whales.
Composer Miguel de Narvaez was reeled in to execute the song, which is now shared on the YouTube channel of Seguros SURA (@segurosura). “This will probably be the most important project we’ve ever done,” he recalled of the composition. The piece of art was intended to inspire the world and generate awareness about the significance of protecting and conserving Colombia’s biodiversity, home to the most bird species in the world. Biologist Monroy had prior experience working with bioacoustics. He and Alvarez initially tried to work with samples from acoustic libraries but decided to take it up a notch. Monroy went on to plan and design the route of the expedition through Colombia’s mountains and forest reserves.
“We needed an expedition where we would move a lot,” the scientist said. This was because he wanted the sounds to resonate with the audience. Monroy noted, “If you live in the plains, you will hear a bird of the plains and recognize it. And if you live in Bogotá, you will hear a bird of Bogotá and recognize it.” Finally, Monroy and Alvarez carried the sack of beautiful wildlife sounds back to the studio where it was built by placing the bird sounds with the corresponding notes of the anthem. At times, some pitches were modified to fit into the song.
“The most complex part was to make it sound sublime, to make it feel real,” Álvarez shared. The team worked on the audio compilation for four weeks after the expedition and presented it at COP16. As expected, it received exhilarating recognition from the spectators with some people saying that they had heard it “seven times straight,” Narvaez claimed. The ideation of the project was done by Sura, an insurance company sponsor of the UN event, partnered with an advertising agency, McCann Colombia. They wanted to create something that amplified what the COP16 summit represented– biodiversity and conservation, and also flaunt the rich wildlife of Colombia.
“We said, if [biodiversity] is the protagonist, it must have a voice. And if it has a voice, it could sing,” explained Alejandro Barrera, executive creative director for the advertising agency. The anthem of Colombia echoed messages of unity and identity of the people, thus, the creative minds recognized its potential to evoke a sense of responsibility with the recreation. 31% of the terrestrial areas in Colombia are protected and conserved while the rest face the threats of mining and deforestation.
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