It’s the name of the genus of small African passerine birds, part of the weaver family Ploceidae, small, sparrow- or finch-like, they are highly gregarious, nomadic, chattering birds, with bills adapted to eating seeds, and the red-billed quelea is said to be the most numerous bird species in the world. Here’s some footage of a huge flock engaging in murmuration, not unlike those of starlings, and individuals singing:
But are their any songs devoted to these birds? Here’s a small flock, including a surprise fly-in from experimental British band alt-J and their song Pusher, with these lyrics, while Bloodflood Pt II, refers to “A flood (Quelea, quelea) of blood to the heart (Quelea, quelea)”:
A canopy of red-billed quelea
Passed over the blue
A five hour flock, not one dives down
To tell you the truth
As night falls, a quelea crawls
And whispers on his last wings
So abundant are we, left alone I shall be
But a waited phone never rings
Here also is music to accompany footage of the birds by David Schweitzer from the Netflix wildlife documentary series, Our Great National Parks:
And finally, some more experimental music inspired by the bird, first by Indian Meditation (Denzel Farrington and Butch Redworth released on The Nuovo Aria Recordings), and the London group Unknown to Unknown (Idris Rahman:on tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, Tamar Osborn on baritone saxophone, flute and clarinet, Jihad Darwish on electric bass and Yusuf Ahmed on drums released via the Maps For Getting Lost label:
Red-headed quelea
Cardinal quelea
Any other quelea-related suggestions out there? Feel free to share anything more in relation to it, whether in music or wider culture, such as from film, art, or other contexts, in comments below.
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