An Afternoon in the Campo

The sound of the Spanish Campo on a sunny afternoon is one of my all time favourites. It is so full of life and natural beauty. Absolute calm and tranquility, full of noise but completely peaceful. I could sit there for hours just listening to everything going on. No two days the same but always graced with a warm familiarity.

Although my personal preference is for unaided listening, a few minutes focused listening through headphones can be quite overwhelming as you hear the detailed nuances of the cacophony that surrounds you. Below is my recording of "An afternoon in the campo". Just a few minutes unedited field recording that provides a sonic glimpse of a truly beautiful place.



The vibrant calls, twitters and patterns of a thousand birds conversing, overlapping and interacting in absolute panorama, rarely seen but heard as clear as the baby blue sky. The gentle flapping of wings, rustling amongst leaves or brittle snapping of dainty twigs remind me that they are really there and occasionally draw my gaze to a nearby bush or tree.

Usually though it is the distance that attracts my focus. The hills, shades of brown and green dotted with the white specs of Hacienda's and the iron shacks of nearby goat farms.

The gentle warbling, paddling and squelching of chickens and ducks sporadically interspersed with the piercing scream of a cockerel echoing across the valley, engaged in a verse of call and response, territories and hierarchy claimed and defended through sound.

Dogs bark across the hillside, building a great ambiance of tones and timbres, asserting themselves, defying their size and shape with ferocious growls and throaty, gravelly barks that rise and fall with the peaceful purr of the occasional campo van, putt putting along dusty roads.