Beatboxing is the art of vocal percussion, and one could say that birds are the masters of beatboxing.  In a contemporary approach to music and social awareness, a bird ecologist, a photographer and a musician have collaborated to create the unique #SkyislandBeatbox project. The trio - V. V. Robin (the ecologist), Prasenjeet Yadav (the photographer) and Ben Mirin (the musician) - enthralled their audience at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) with their Birdsong Beatbox performance.

"The overwhelming response was unexpected and I was not sure what to make of it. It wasn't just in NCBS - our shows in Cochin, Kodi, Trivandrum and Ooty rocked!" says V. V. Robin.

"The experience was all about portraying the birds as the heroes. We wanted to draw attention to the music, not the musician; the science, not the scientist and the photos, not the photographer", says Aparna Banerjee, one of the curators of the #SkyislandBeatbox initiative from NCBS.

Ben's music on a beatbox with bird calls from the Western Ghats coupled with Prasenjeet's footage of these birds created a smorgasbord of audio-visual excitement. "The NCBS show was a really strong capstone to our team's tour through the Western Ghats. We ended up modifying our structure to make the pieces more integrated and I think it really paid off. It was obvious that everyone in the room really enjoyed the music but also had a deep interest in our process and the science behind it. I'm really excited to see where this model can go, it's as much about the team as it is about the message," says Ben Mirin.

Current research by V.V. Robin in collaboration with Uma Ramakrishnan of NCBS shows that some of the birds featured in the program are very special - they are endemic to (which means they live only on) areas called sky-islands. Sky-islands are essentially the tops of mountains that are separated from each other by a "sea" of valleys. They are unique habitats that are in danger of disappearing due to deforestation and climate change. The presentation takes an innovative approach to spreading awareness about the very real dangers of extinction that loom over the wondrous bird life in the Western Ghats.

The effort has been funded by National Geographic, the Indian Bird Conservation Network (IBCN) and the Shola Trust.

For an example of Ben Mirin's musical work, please click here.