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A Grandchild’s Song for Robins
Singing about the joy of birds in the Meskwaki language
© Doug Greenberg
Ray Young Bear is a writer, musician and a member of Meskwaki Nation. He considers himself a word collector, writing poetry in both English and Meskwaki, his first language. And he enjoys taking photos of the birds around his home in Iowa. In the spring of 2021, he was spending time with his grandson, Ozzy Young Bear. He composed a song in Meskwaki about how his grandson enjoyed watching the robins hunt for earthworms. He later recorded the song for a music collection called For the Birds: The Birdsong Project. Over 200 musicians, artists and writers contributed, with proceeds going to the National Audubon Society.
BirdNote®
A Grandchild’s Song for Robins
Written by Conor Gearin
This is BirdNote.
[American Robin song, ML 94255, 0:58-1:01]
Ray Young Bear is a writer, musician and a member of Meskwaki Nation. He considers himself a word collector, writing poetry in both English and Meskwaki, his first language. And he enjoys taking photos of the birds around his home in Iowa. In the spring of 2021, he was spending time with his grandson, Ozzy Young Bear.
Ray Young Bear: [12:00] And we were watching robins around this time and I just began composing a song based on us watching the robins as they hunt for earthworms.
[12:30] More than anything to entertain my grandson, uh, to try and coincide, the hopping movements of the robin with the song itself.
[Beneath next quote, fade in Meskwaki version of song at 14:30]
[13:05] The English translation is, [13:10] "Robin, Robin, our grandson, our grandson, enjoys watching you hunt for earthworms, hunt for earthworms."
[Clip of song in Meskwaki in the clear]
Ray Young Bear later recorded the song for a music collection called For the Birds: The Birdsong Project. Over 200 musicians, artists and writers contributed, with proceeds going to the National Audubon Society.
Ray Young Bear: [16:26] And I'm ecstatic, considering that it's a gargantuan, monumental project to recognize the birds and to protect them.
[American Robin song, ML 94255, 0:58-1:01]
Find a link to Ray Young Bear’s song and the complete music collection on our website, BirdNote dot org. I’m Michael Stein.
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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Content Director: Allison Wilson
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. American Robin ML 94255 recorded by Wil Hershberger.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2022 BirdNote November 2022
Narrator: Michael Stein
ID# youngbearr-03-2022-11-14 youngbearr-03
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