By Shiv Sidecar
“Great God! This is an awful place” wrote Captain Robert Falcon Scott in 1912, his British expedition having finally arrived at the location of the South Pole. Most of us know the story: Amundsen’s Norwegian team had beaten Scott to the Pole by a matter of a few days, and none of the downhearted British party survived their long trek back to their expedition’s ship. They were crossing largely unknown terrain with sledges, dogs and ponies, their equipment and clothing strangely inadequate by any modern standard. Technology has since transformed the Antarctic continent, which is now almost bustling, populated by geologists, meteorologists and other scientists… and tourists, who travel to wonder at Scott’s preserved hut, furnished like an Edwardian office. But it remains remote, inaccessible and hostile to most of us.
The vastness, the emptiness and the whiteness have been inspirational for a number of classical and experimental instrumental composers. A busier soundscape is evoked by ex-buskers Portico Quartet, whose “Zavodovski Island” (named for a volcanic island near South Georgia) may reflect the activity in the huge penguin colony, to say nothing of the other seabirds who are the island’s only inhabitants. (For interest, the steelpan-like percussion is provided by a hang, played on the lap by fingers instead of mallets). The Cocteau Twins’ trademark icy vocals and use of disconnected words as instrumentation are highly effective on “Throughout The Dark Months Of April And May”, which comes from the album “Victorialand” (named for an area of Antarctica). According to vastariner, the title comes from a David Attenborough documentary on penguins.
Some find beauty in the Antarctic landscape; others see only bleakness. Modest Mouse’s insistent, semi-chanted “The Cold Part” conveys a desire to escape from… what? “So long to this cold, cold / bone-bleached / salt-soaked / sad, sad part of the world. I stepped down as President of Antarctica…” There are pages of analysis of this eerie song online. But others are enticed by the vision. Ed Harcourt and his partner want to start again: “We’re going down South where there’s no government… disappear from the radar, build a new life in Antarctica”. Akiko Yano + Soichi Noguchi, singing in Japanese, weigh up the options. On the one hand it’s a continent of ice, cold and dark – but it’s also breathtaking and beautiful. “I want to go to Antarctica, the land where penguins live!”
It doesn’t work for everybody. Al Stewart – who seems impelled to write about polar regions frequently – envisages himself on “a small group of rocks, seagulls and ice, some ramshackle huts… no boats pass this way… it’s the loneliest place on the map”. Not the best environment for a failed relationship: “Love was erased, so this is goodbye – I saw you silently rowing away”. And it may not last for ever. Midnight Oil’s “Antarctica” (a popular song title this week) is effectively a requiem for humanity’s effect on an unspoilt landscape: “There must be one place left in the world where the water’s real and clean.” Lovely piano coda, too.
The penguins made it …
Much of the general interest in the Antarctic nowadays comes from the history of polar exploration and the “Race To The Pole”, mentioned above. For the second of our non-English lyrics, Spanish pop trio Mecano sing an unexpected, apparently sincere tribute to Captain Scott: “Héroes de La Antártida”. Even if you don’t speak Spanish, you can hazard a guess at a few of the lyrics. (The line “God Save The Queen” is an anachronism, though – Edward VII and George V were the monarchs when the expedition was planned and undertaken). A fascinating oddity. Scott and the fate of his team are a source of endless fascination. iLIKETRAINS’ piece “Terra Nova” is a first-person narrative incorporating excerpts from Scott’s diaries over a slightly goth-y backdrop. (Apart from its literal meaning, Terra Nova was the name of the British Antarctic Expedition’s ship). And Ewen Carruthers’ “Was It You” (apparently addressed to his wife) imagines Scott’s thoughts in his last hours alive, a last survivor marooned in a hostile landscape: “I can write no more…”
But not the Endurance …
As in all the best stories, Scott had a rival: Ernest Shackleton, who had personal aspirations to be first to the Pole. Shackleton never made it; his ship “Endurance” sank, and his he and his surviving crew were forced into a 720 nautical mile journey to Elephant Island in a lifeboat. Don McGlashan’s song about that journey expertly summarises the privations and dangers experienced by sailors around Antarctica. Photos of Shackleton’s expeditions are fascinating; the ice still blinds. It’s difficult to envisage the hardships experienced by early navigators around the south polar oceans; whalers were active in the area long before Scott and Shackleton’s era. The seaman Harry Robertson wrote evocative lyrics about chasing whales and long, frozen winters on South Georgia. Nic Jones’ recording of his song “The Little Pot Stove” is a folk-club classic: “In that wee dark engine room where the chill seeps through your soul, how we huddled round that wee pot stove that burned oily rags and coal”. Fresh penguin eggs were a treat.
If you find all that whiteness overwhelming, you might get lucky and catch a display of the multicoloured Aurora Australis – the southern counterpart to the Arctic Aurora Borealis. The Australis is commemorated in song by Australian band Gravity Stone – but there’s a twist. The viewers are the seven astronaut crew members of the Columbia space shuttle immediately before it broke up in 2003. Peter Hammill takes a more poetic view of the light: “A horizon of light blurs the boundaries of whiteness as the distance is shimmered into timeless brightness now” A very appropriate title, too – “The Light Continent”.
After all that gloom, let’s lighten up. Norma “Cat Named Dog” Tanega celebrates being 10 degrees below; the lyrics to “Antarctic Rose” aren’t especially cheerful, but she sounds extraordinarily perky. Glad it’s her, not me.
An Awe-Inspiring Antarctic A-List:
Portico Quartet – Zavodovski Island
Cocteau Twins – Throughout The Dark Months Of April And May
Modest Mouse – The Cold Part
Ed Harcourt – Antarctica
Akiko Yano & Soichi Naguchi – I Want To Go To Antarctica
Al Stewart – The Loneliest Place On The Map
Midnight Oil – Antarctica
Mecano - Héroes de La Antártida
iLIKETRAINS – Terra Nova
Ewen Carruthers – Was It You
Don McGlashan – Shackleton
Nic Jones – The Little Pot Stove
Gravity Stone – Australis
Peter Hammill – The Light Continent
Norma Tanega – Antarctic Rose
Wind Harp At Davis Station (hidden track)
Bitingly Beautiful B-List:
Emilie Simon – Antarctic
Kings Of The South Seas – Song Of The Sledge
Mary Coughlan – Antarctica
The Bluebells – South Atlantic Way
Crisálida – Cabo De Hornos
The Church – Antarctica
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – Antarctica [with polar bears..?]
Dead Milkmen – Somewhere Over Antarctica
FFS – Antarctica
Go Set – Roaring Forties
Okay Temiz – Penguin
Lunar Funk – Mr Penguin Pts. 1 & 2
Prince – Song Of The Heart
Ian Anderson – A Raft Of Penguins
Harry Robertson – Whale Chasing Man
Matthew Dewey – Ex Oceano: IV (Symphony no.2)
Guru’s Wildcard Ice Pick:
Aido Smeato – Irrational Fear Of Penguins
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations in response to last week's topic: The frozen south: songs from or about the Antarctic region. The next topic will launch on Thursday after 1pm UK time.
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