stewart copland album

If you’re a rock and roll fan, you probably already know Stewart Copeland. Drumming legends Copland, Andy Summers, and a man named Sting rose to global stardom in the 1970s as The Police. So we were intrigued to learn that Copland had teamed up with renowned naturalist Martin Stewart on a pioneering album, sharing the spotlight not with Sting but with hyenas, owls and howler monkeys. The album, called Wild Concerto, is based on Martin Stewart’s life’s work, an incredible collection of audio recordings of creatures from around the world. Some are now extinct or endangered, making Wild Concerto as much a manifesto as a music album. I needed to hear more.

There’s only one way to start your day at the world’s most famous recording studio.

Stewart Copeland: Martin is finally here in the flesh. I’m very happy to meet you. We are deeply committed to our mission here.

Martin Stewart. Stewart Copeland. An unlikely combination: a quiet naturalist and a brave rock star.

Stewart Copeland: I hope you enjoy this music.

We come to Abbey Road to turn animal sounds into a concerto. This is the same studio that the Fab Four made famous. No pressure.

Martin Stewart: I can’t believe it, the history here is just-

Stewart Copeland: Imagine McCartney walking up and down those stairs.

Stewart Copeland: “Now we’re going to become the Beatles”

But today, it’s in the animal kingdom that you can aim for stardom. While humans have backup, it’s time for wrens, bears, frogs, and hundreds of other superstars.

Wild Concerto is a groundbreaking album based on Martin Stewart’s unparalleled audio archive. He has traveled the globe for decades, collecting approximately 100,000 recordings of wild inhabitants. Stewart Copeland wrote the music.

All he had to do was walk through 30,000 hours of field recordings to choose which animals would receive star treatment. Piha’s screams were natural.

Stewart Copeland: There’s a problem bird. Here is the orchestral version of the bird.

Martin Stewart: That’s really great.

Copeland said the choice of instrument was influenced by the raw sounds of the animals themselves. Listen to this song by Arctic Wolves.

Stewart Copeland: First of all, wolves are independent. Isn’t it beautiful?

Martin Stewart: It still makes my hair stand on end.

Stewart Copeland: Okay, let’s listen to the orchestra. It’s a wolf trombone.

Stewart Copeland: These aren’t real sounds, but you put the instrument down and the animal becomes Pavarotti.

In the recording studio, a wolf was howling into the musicians’ headsets.

Stewart Copeland: Yes, I understand! I’m going to come out there and kiss and hug you all. So, shrug your babies off! Thank you very much everyone.

Stewart Copeland: That’s great!

Copeland should know. You may remember the rock star days of brandishing drumsticks like they were deadly weapons. As one-third of The Police, Copeland rose to the pinnacle of pop stardom. Police have sold more than 75 million records. Shall we sing together yet?

By 1986, the party was over and police were making arrests. However, it wasn’t long before Copland’s propulsive drumming landed him a new job and set him well on his way to becoming a composer.

Bill Whitaker: How did that happen?

Stewart Copeland: “I blame Francis Coppola”

Bill Whitaker: Is it his fault? Do you blame him?

Stewart Copeland: Yes. yes. His job is to find talent and give them the rope. And he hired a drummer for a rock band and hired me to do the music for the movie. His concept was that it’s all about rhythm.

Bill Whitaker: Is this “rumblefish”?

Stewart Copeland: This is “Rumble Fish.”

Copland said he knew nothing about film music. But he knew the rhythm. So he created what he called “found sounds” by arranging dog barks, billiard balls, and piledrivers into rhythmic loops.

More movies followed. Then he began writing classical music. Copeland said he’s found a new love as he tours his Los Angeles studio packed with musical instruments. He says he considers all of that when composing. A drummer who had never followed a musical score became a maestro.

Bill Whitaker: You loved drums from the beginning –

Stewart Copeland: – Power

Bill Whitaker: – It’s a beginning. force. What is it about orchestras that you love so much?

Stewart Copeland It’s a beauty. You know my dad raised me to be a jazz musician. But during that time, my mother just quietly played Stravinsky, Ravel, and Debussy. And it hit me emotionally. Now I’ve got it, it’s like having Jimi Hendrix in one ear. In the other ear I hear Igor Stravinsky. So they were kind of interacting in my brain all the time.

Bill Whitaker: You’ll hear these sounds in “Wild Concerto?”

Stewart Copeland: Oh, and all this (claps percussion).

And these: (Birdsong)

Martin Stewart’s ears were filled with other music from another world. He has been eavesdropping on nature for over 60 years. It started when he was 11 years old. He took his tape recorder and fled to the bluebell woods near his home in central England. His first recording? This Eurasian blackbird. What started as a boyhood lark turned into a career with a mission.

Martin Stewart: I’ve always believed that the reason I’m on this earth is to fight for animals and the environment. And that’s kind of the rent for me to be here – I feel like I can convey a message like that –

Bill Whitaker: So what’s the message?

Martin Stewart: We are losing some of the most precious species on earth. You can go back to a place that has been monitored for 20 years, and the changes are noticeable. And audio made it happen. Audio is the barometer of the earth. If you want to know the condition of a stream or river, Dipper will tell you. Frogs can tell you about the condition of the swamp. Birds tell us about the state of the earth.

At home in Florida, Stewart said he still pulls out his microphone every day and listens to the rhythms of nature like a doctor with a stethoscope.

Martin Stewart: I hear the white sound of the sea – the cicadas.

Lately, he has become deeply concerned about the catastrophic decline in wild animal populations around the world. Stewart preserves the last record of the golden Panama frog in digital format. The northern white rhino is also extinct in the wild. There is no hint in the other recordings that he overcame any danger to obtain them. This is a howler monkey preparing for battle. and a crocodile that swallowed one of the microphones.

Stewart Copeland said his favorite animal is the hyena. This is a rare record taken on Namibia’s Skeleton Coast.

Stewart Copeland: Well, they have a very wide vocabulary. They make loving sounds. They make aggressive sounds.

Martin Stewart: What does love sound like?

Stewart Copeland: (makes a sound)

Martin Stewart: That’s interesting.

Stewart Copeland: In fact, I will tell you that my wife and I have adopted the hyena love sounds as part of our relationship. It’s a little weird, but it works. And they have laughing hyenas. Actually it is.

No wonder the Hyenas have earned their own reputation with “Wild Concerto.”

Martin Stewart: How did you come up with the composition to emphasize the hyena sounds?

Stewart Copeland: I’ve asked the Lord that question many times.

Martin Stewart: So what did he say?

Stewart Copeland: He said, “I don’t know.” See if you can make a living from it.

Martin Stewart: Just be yourself.

Martin Stewart: This is just magic, magic.

Martin Stewart told us working at Abbey Road was a revelation. He is used to being alone in the wilderness at the ends of the earth. So we wondered what led Stewart to share his life’s work with a rock star.

Bill Whitaker: Why did you decide to do that?

Martin Stewart: I live with cancer. It’s–it’s hard to talk about that, Bill. But I ended up getting sick. And my niece Amanda, who works for the BBC, said, “You’ve got to save your archives.” You need people to see what you have.

Stewart said her illness is not the only crisis she faces. He worries that as the world continues to grow, more animals face extinction. Part of his audio archive has become a mausoleum to a past life.

Martin Stewart: If we keep stealing from nature, the inevitable will happen. we will lose more

Bill Whitaker What is the inevitable?

Martin Stewart: Mass extinction. Considering what I lost during my lifetime, nothing would change.

Bill Whitaker: It’s not slowing down.

Martin Stewart: And I don’t know how to slow it down. But if you show people the beauty of something and they like it, maybe you can throw something at them.

He says he hopes “Wild Concerto” will attract people who don’t listen to the cries of piha or the sound of departing birds. Copland was also counted among the converts.

Stewart Copeland: Well, what is Walla Walla Walla Walla?Let’s go. what’s that? Walla walla walla.

Martin Stewart: Which one is Marble Gamaguchi?

Stewart Copeland: Marble Frogmouth. remember that

Copeland said he hopes “Wild Concerto” will immortalize those animal songs. A heartfelt elegy, a human tribute to Mother Nature’s orchestra.

Produced by Heather Abbott. Associate Producer Paulina Smolinski. Broadcaster Mariah Johnson. Edited by Sean Kelly.

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