'The Birds on the Wires' - so simple, yet so exquisitely beautiful
21 April 2015, 13:58 | Updated: 6 January 2017, 14:45
One morning while reading a newspaper, Jarbas Agnelli saw a photograph of birds on an electricity wire - and he made it into a stunning piece of music.
Has an image or a scene ever made you think of music? That's what happened to musician and film director Jarbas Agnelli – so much so that he immediately sat down and turned it into a beautifully simple piece of music.
The Birds on the Wires
Back in 2009, flicking through his morning paper, Jarbas saw this picture by photographer Paulo Pinto. The birds were sitting on five parallel wires, but what the musician saw was the heads of musical notes on a staff.
On the staff, the birds shape an A-minor 7 chord, which Agnelli builds into a haunting chordal motif. The composer said "I knew it wasn't the most original idea in the universe. I was just curious to hear what melody the birds were creating"
The result? After the chordal opening, the composer uses individual lines of birds to create an accompanying melody. Watch the full piece – what a beautiful thing...
The short film has received over 2 million views and was named as one of the Top 25 Videos at the YouTube Play Festival at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2010. You can watch a live performance at the awards ceremony here
