A Guide to the Birdsong of Mexico, Central America & the Caribbean by Shika Shika

An album of music inspired by the song of endangered birds with 100% of the profits going towards organisations working to protect them.

“A Guide to the Birdsong of Mexico, Central America & the Caribbean” is the second Volume in the series following on from “A Guide to the Birdsong of South America”, originally released on Robin’s label Rhythm and Roots. Volume I raised nearly 15,000 USD for two birding organisations and featured artists like Nicola Cruz, Dengue Dengue Dengue and Chancha Via Circuito.

For this second edition we have shifted focus north of the equator and to the vulnerability of bird species like the Momoto Carenado (Nicaragua), Ferminia (Cuba) and the Jamaican Blackbird (Jamaica), birds who have dwindled in numbers as a result of the environmental repercussions of climate change, deforestation and trapping for the pet trade.

For the album we chose 10 endangered or threatened bird species and challenged 10 of our favourite producers or musicians from the region. Working with the Xeno Canto birdsong community and the Macaulay Library, we sourced a recording of each bird’s song. Each artist was then asked to create an original piece of music inspired by the bird and its song.

In line with out vision at Shika Shika the curation of artists is specifically geared towards those bridging connections between traditional music and modernity, or between organic and electronic sounds. There are contributions from artists in eight different countries, ranging from Jamaica’s organic dancehall trio Equiknoxx, to Dj Jigüe, one of the leaders of Cuba’s burgeoning electronic scene. Belize’s critically renowned Garifuna Collective have been bringing the unique Garifuna culture and language to a global audience for many years, while Tamara Montenegro has been one of the leaders of Nicaragua’s electronic music scene for the past decade.

The project would not have been possible without the support of an incredible Kickstarter community, helping us raise £12,599 in August 2019.

Once the costs of production have been covered, all of the proceeds from this album will be donated to Birds Caribbean, La Asociación Ornitológica de Costa Rica and Fundacion TXORI in Mexico. All profits from the sales of the record, music streaming, poster and t-shirt will be shared between these organisations who focus on engaging local communities to help improve and grow the bird tourism sector, create awareness of vulnerable birds with young people and crucially, provide rescue, rehabilitation and breeding programmes.

To find out more visit: linktr.ee/shikashika
credits
released June 26, 2020

Mastering by Yosi Horikawa
Artwork & cover design by Scott Partridge
Bird song recordings provided by the Macaulay Library & the Xeno Canto community.

A2 Composed by Al Ovando, arranged and Performed by The Garifuna Collective, Produced and Recorded at Stonetree Studios in Belize by Al Ovando, Published by Stonetree Music (BMI)
A3 Composition & vocals: Ximena Obregón
A5 Instrumental parts: Teresa Gabriel
B3 lyrics & vocals Majo (María José Marín), Quijongo y Ocarinas: Luis Porras (Proyecto Jirondai), Mixdown: Nathan Hall