green billed toucan
We're about to take a sound journey, so grab your headphones, adjust the volume, sit back and close your eyes. But before you hit play and we take off, we'll briefly put you on the spot.
Let's go to the Iguazú jungle, in the Argentine province of Misiones, and what you are going to hear when you finish reading was recorded by one of the most respected sound engineers in the world and one of the greatest bird experts in South America. John Paul Culasso , born in Uruguay 29 years ago, is capable of identifying around 720 species of birds, solely and exclusively by their songs.
And it is that Juan Pablo does not understand green or red or plumage. He was born blind, but since he was 12 years old he has been capturing with his tape recorder what his eyes cannot see. "For most people, sounds are invisible and my job is to make them visible," he tells us in a telephone conversation. Confined these days in his house, like all of us, he assures that, since the cessation of air traffic, he notices the soundscape is much cleaner.
The impressive Iguazú Falls
“The main problem when recording soundscapes of nature are airways, airplanes, and anthropophony, the sounds produced by man. Also, now that people are quieter, we sound engineers are making much purer, more pristine recordings, without the need to do any post-production process”.
But the recordings you are about to hear were made at the end of 2017, when the awasi hotel, one of our favorite lodges of all time, back then in the home stretch before opening, invited Juan Pablo to portray the nature that surrounds the lodge and the landscapes that are heard during the excursions they organize.
For three weeks he visited these places during the day, at sunrise and sunset. He recorded specific bird sounds, the green-billed toucan, the greenish pepitero, the blue dancer... and soundscapes in general.
The sounds of the jungle sneak under the cotton sheets of Awasi Iguazú
Thus, you now, from your home and through the lodge's website, can discover the symphony of sounds that coexist in the Iguazú jungle and even create your own combining some songs with others.
And, even more, through Awasi's Soundcloud page, where you will find 68 recordings, move to Uruzú at dawn, experience the magic of the sunsets in the Correderas del Ñandú, feel how the storm approaches through the Paraná River or attend the nightly concerts that enliven the dinners in Awasi. And the Iguazú falls, of course.
Waterfalls that, by the way, as if they were also in quarantine, recorded in recent days the lowest flow since the 2006 drought –To give you an idea, if the normal flow is between 1,200 and 1,500 cubic meters per second, last Sunday it was only 289 cubic meters–. The motives? The lack of rain in the region and the closure of dams on the Brazilian side.
Sunset in the upper Paraná
“Everyone describes Iguazú as a place of dazzling landscapes, but stops paying attention to sounds, and it's a shame because it has a sound heritage that is unique in the world” Juan Pablo tells us, who assures us that Iguazú sounds totally different from other jungles, even from other areas of the Atlantic forest.
Their main difference is the sunrises. “They are very lively sunrises, with a wide variety of birds. Much more than in other neighboring areas of the Atlantic forest”. Why? The answer is found in the latitude.
“Rio de Janeiro, for example, is more tropical, the days and nights last more or less the same, the temperature is always similar. Instead, In that region of the province of Misiones, winter is relatively long and cold and, in spring and summer, the birds say let's sing until we can't anymore. And that is what I discovered in Iguazú, a precious magic”.
blue dancer
If he has to keep one sound out of all the ones he recorded in Iguazú, he keeps the one he made in The devils throat. Juan Pablo, like all Awasi guests, had the privilege of entering the national park without other tourists, before or after its opening hours to the general public, and was able to walk alone along that walkway that leads to the famous and impressive Devil's Throat, the point that concentrates the greatest flow of the Iguazú Falls.
“Record the force of the water and, at the same time, having been able to capture a very delicate sound, which are the swifts, is **the experience that I keep in my heart like a diamond”, he confesses.
“At sunrise and sunset, the swifts all go together in a flock against the cloud of water that is raising the foam and they are heard singing and even flapping their wings! They are very small birds that go as if fighting against that mass of raging water”.
The sound engineer Juan Pablo Culasso in the Devil's Throat
Juan Pablo, who is also dedicated to giving conferences around the world and consulting for companies on accessibility issues, and is an active contributor to the Macauly Library, the world's largest nature sound library, you already have your next project ready to be presented.
"Is about a sound guide to the birds of San Rafael, a nature reserve located in southern Paraguay, also from Atlantic forest, and highly threatened by illegal plantations, logging and hunting. In the San Rafael reserve live really rare species, some of them in danger of extinction, such as the yellow thrush or dragon (Xanthopsar flavus), a grassland bird with a beautiful song”.
The presentation, which was scheduled for this April, has been postponed, like everything at the moment, but "We still don't know very well when or how, it will be safe before June." We will keep our ears open.
Choliba scops owl (Megascops choliba), also called common warbler
Oh, and when you open your eyes, don't stop seeing the short film The Blind Birdwatcher, which narrates the sound experience of Juan Pablo in Iguazú.
Produced by the Awasi team and shot by the Danish director based in Chile Morten Anderson , the short film has won several awards, the most important of all, the one granted by the Hollywood Independent Documentary Filmmakers Association.