A stroll through our imprint-rich and mystery-filled forests.

A few years ago, I was smitten by the title of a radio work by sound artist Chantal Dumas: Le son-refuge, the refuge sound. I could never get enough of that long emotional soundtale; I even programmed it for La grande nuit, an event presented on February 27, 2021 as part of the Montréal / Nouvelles Musiques Festival produced by the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ).

Well, this is my own refuge, and these are my birds (migrating or not) and their signals, from rallying calls to cheerful songs. This is a sequel to Les oiseaux de Nias (2017-19, 20), though this time there are formal transcriptions of various birdsongs, mostly those audible at my home in the summer of 2024.

According to the Belgian philosopher and psychologist Vinciane Despret, we should “live like birds” to live a better life. She says that sounds are more enigmatic than images, and that listening leads to unexpected discoveries, a curiosity quest.

The score — performed by a group of musicians I call “Ensemble Nias” — replies to pre-recorded birdsongs of the boreal forest. I recorded treatments on the instruments and integrated them to the timeline of the fixed medium. A paraphonic thread (ie: several notes synthesized using the same treatments) quietly ties together the various elements of the work. Some “audio shootings” (to quote Michel Chion) were made at the bird shelter where I have been volunteering for the last few years for the love of fauna and following some pretty incredible adventures with my parrots.

I volunteer at Le Nichoir, a shelter where injured and sick wild birds are rehabilitated before being reintroduced in the wild. It’s a fantastic experience. An electrocuted sparrow was brought in with severe burns. We thought it would never recoup, and yet it has been fighting for dear life for a year, its feathers coming back little by little, which was quite a surprise. A penguin came out of nowhere. A kingfisher, little songbirds and about a hundred small seagulls fell to the ground because of the intense heat caused by man-made climate change. They would be saved and then released as soon as they could fly again. In the spring, we get a lot of orphan chicks and juveniles brought in by people who don’t know that some birds, American robins for instance, should be left on the ground when they are learning to fly, as their parents will continue to feed them.

Some birds had been domesticated by careless people who got rid of them when they reached adulthood. These birds cannot be released and left to fend for themselves in the wild. I saw blue jays whose language was of a domestic nature: cat meows, cell phone rings, etc. A juvenile was observing me and imitating my actions: it opened the zipper of its enclosure with its beak and took off into the room. I had to catch it in order to weigh it and give it the care it needs.

And then there is Kona the crow, handicapped by an accident at a young age. We made it a makeshift home in an office. Sometimes I’ll bring it a treat, like a little fish or a toy. I’ll gently talk to it, and it will reply with delicate strokes of a foot and quick dry sounds.

I prepared a tiny bouquet for a hummingbird so cute I have grown attached to it. Its flight and hum bring to mind a drone, that human invention so widespread now that we tend to mistake it for something natural.

There are so many melodious songs over complex rhythms, so many stories to tell. It’s so beautiful. A refuge.

Thanks Chantal for making me realize this.

— Roxanne Turcotte [English translation: François Couture, iv-26]

Forêt boréale [Boreal Forest] was realized in 2024 at the composer’s studio (Studio Séducson) in Montréal (Québec) and was premiered on 21 November 2024 by Michel Dubeau, Julien Grégoire, Claire Marchand, and Guy Pelletier at the concert Artéfacts II presented by Le Vivier at Salle bleue of Édifice Wilder — Espace danse in Montréal. This work was revised in 2025. Thanks to the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ).

Composition

• 2024, Studio Séducson, Montréal (Québec)

Revision

• 2025, Studio Séducson, Montréal (Québec)

Premiere

• November 21, 2024, Artéfacts II, Salle bleue — Édifice Wilder — Espace danse, Montréal (Québec)