Humpback Whale Song - Hydrophone Recording - Kohola - Spirit of the Ocean
Annie Crawley films, records, and swims with humpback whales. She’s been fascinated with water her entire life. When she learned to scuba dive, another world opened up to her. She travels the world with cameras in hand to document our underwater world to connect people to our ocean. She lent her artistic vision to composer Stella Sung’s new piece, Kohola, Spirit of the Ocean, to inspire and bring hope to audiences after the darkness we’ve all experienced during the pandemic. Humpback whales have an extraordinary story of resilience and the collaboration between these two will leave you wanting more. Humpback whales migrate thousands of miles each year from their polar feeding grounds to tropical and subtropical areas to breed and give birth, living off their fat stores. They have lived on our planet for millions of years. During the 20th century, more than 200,000 humpback whales were taken, reducing their population by more than 90 percent. The International Whaling Commission banned commercial humpback whaling in 1966 to prevent extinction as their global population depleted to 5,000 animals. In 1970, they were protected by the Endangered Species Act and the King of Tonga declared his people will no longer hunt humpback whales, but that we will swim with them. During the past 50 years, they’ve rebounded worldwide to nearly 80,000 whales and have been classified into 14 distinct populations, nine of which no longer need to be considered endangered.
Annie Crawley has had the pleasure to swim, photograph, and film these sentient beings in the wild around the world. In Kohola, Spirit of the Ocean she shares a humpback whale song via a recording she created with. a hydrophone and a film about what it's like to visit the humpback whale nursery in Tonga. She plays with a subadult humpback whale and brings you up close and personal with these animals. The mother keeps her baby close, as they caress one another, the mother nurses and cares for her baby for a year. When you look into the eye of a mother humpback whale, she shares her life story with you. Kohola, Spirit of the Ocean shares intimate moments between a mother humpback whale, her baby, Crawley, and you. As they surface to breathe, notice the mother looking into your eye, allowing her baby to greet us, saying hello, before being called back to her mama. The mother and baby humpback whales communicate with one another through whisper-like grunts and squeaks to avoid predators, inaudible to us. Part of a male humpback whale's song which Crawley captured in the field with a hydrophone is embedded in the sound design to transport you to their world. This video takes you back in time to when the singing whale was captured. After one year of caring for her baby, the young whale must find their way in the world on their own.
Kohola, envisioned by composer Stella Sung, shines a light on humpback whales. After collaborating on Oceana to raise awareness about noise pollution, Sung created this upbeat and hopeful composition to celebrate life and that of the humpback whale. Crawley says it's been extraordinary to visualize Sung’s composition to take you into our ocean. There's a thin blue line of separation between the gravity world in which we live and that of these incredible whales. When Sung asked Crawley to lend her work and creativity to the composition, she dived deep into the collaboration, knowing the potential impact we could create through our art and passions. Crawley hopes Kohola inspires you to dive deeper into understanding the importance of the ocean in our lives, as well as our planet’s. It covers 70 percent of planet Earth, which I believe should be called Planet Ocean. Less explored than outer space, it is our life source. Holding 98 percent of our water, producing 70 percent of the oxygen we breathe, and feeding our world, our ocean’s story unites and connects all of us.
Kohola-Spirit of the Ocean, music by Stella Sung premieres Saturday, November 13, 2021 in Eugene, Oregon at 7:30 PM at the First Baptist Church, 3550 Fox Meadow Road, Eugene OR. This is a very special day as Conductor Kelly Kuo celebrates his 10th anniversary season as Artistic Director of the Oregon Mozart Players and Old School kicks off the 40th Anniversary Season of OMP and will be a first in-person concert in 645 days since the pandemic halted in person performances.
Kohola-Spirit of the Ocean came about from a discussion that Maestro Kelly Kuo and Composer Stella Sung
More about Dr. Stella Sung
Dr Stella Sung served as the first Composer-in-Residence for the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra (2008-2011), and was one of the five composers nationally selected for a Music Alive award, a three-year award that allowed Dr. Sung to serve as Composer-In-Residence for the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance (2013-16), sponsored by New Music USA, the League of American Orchestras, ASCAP, the Aaron Copland Fund, and the Andrew Mellon Foundation. Premieres, performances, and commissions of Dr. Sung’s work have included compositions for world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the German Ministry of Culture (Rhineland-Pfalz), the National Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Pops, the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, the Akron Symphony Orchestra, the Sarasota Symphony Orchestra, the Jacksonville (Fla.) Symphony Orchestra, and other university and regional orchestras, chamber music ensembles, and soloists.
Dr. Sung is director of the Center for Research and Education in Arts, Technology, and Entertainment (CREATE) at the University of Central Florida, College of Arts and Humanities.