Beatrice Harrison in her garden. Image credit: Getty Images via BBC
War Comes to the Nightingale is a short narrative piece combining wartime stories about encounters with the beloved songbird, the nightingale. The stories work to bridge the experiences of those who served in World War One and the era of World War Two. It’s a reflection on British culture, early radio, coincidence, and the panacea of birdsong.
War Comes to the Nightingale was included in the project Future Nostalgia FM. The piece will be broadcasted on a dedicated radio station for 1000 years and also within an itinerant kiosk across Germany as part of the project Futurology Kiosks supported by Kreativfonds and Frauenfonds from the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Birdsong credits to Stanislas Wroza, XC560402. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/560402
BBC recordings from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU1Z7QtyJVs and http://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/browse/issue-04/capturing-the-song-of-the-nightingale/video-3/