The Sonic Whale
from DrSonique Hosted by DrSonique talks to the ABC
Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, daß er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. Und wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein. He who fights the monster should be careful lest he thereby becomes a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze into thee. Frederick Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil. The Sea and superstition go hand in hand. For centuries sailors unwittingly sensing the song of the Whale through their wooden-hulled ships thought them Ghosts of the deep, and despite the thousands of close encounters in the Whale hunt they remained ‘mute’ until the middle of the 20th Century. It was a team of US military sonar operators based in Bermuda, charged with identifying Russian submarines who initially identified and documented the singing of whales thus enabling the entire debate about their sentience. The Song of the Humpback Whale (produced by the biologist Dr. Roger Payne) was released as an L.P. Record in 1970 (and subsequently re-released as a soundsheet in National Geographic’s January 1979 edition selling 10.5 million copies making it the most popular commercial recording of all time and instrumental in turning public awareness against the cruelty and avarice of the Whaling Industry.
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