Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Canary Islands’

A Whistling Language

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on November 12, 2024| 11 Comments »

Photo: Richard Franks.
On the island of La Gomera, expert whistlers communicate across long distances.

How do you get your news? News models are emerging all the time. I get local updates from a nonprofit that has been expanding ever since its launch a couple years ago. (To read about the nonprofit wave, search on “nonprofit news” at this blog.) I also listen to the radio and use social media that provides links to mainstream media.

But what if you got news from a whistler? What would that be like?

Richard Franks writes at the BBC, “In the rugged crags of Barranco de Ávalo, a ravine on the small Canary Island of La Gomera, two local 12-year-olds were practicing their Silbo Gomero, the local whistling language. For an entrancing few minutes, Irún Castillo Perdomo and Angel Manuel Garcia Herrera’s lilting warbles reverberated around the barren gorge and soared proudly into the air like eagles in flight.

“They were accompanied by 70-year-old retired Silbo Gomero teacher Eugenio Darias, whose grandfather used to own and work on this very same land. He told me that the boys’ whistled conversation was similar to any they would have over text message or in the playground, but the focus was instead on the six differentiating sounds that make up La Gomera’s protected whistle language.

“While it’s true that most children their age would sooner pick up their phone and tap away, this small Canary Island invites them to think differently. Thanks to Darias, their threatened tongue has been a compulsory school subject since 1999 – and almost all 22,000 residents can understand it alongside their mother tongue of Canarian Spanish.

” ‘It’s important to give students the idea that they can really use it if they need to, like other languages, but also that it’s not necessary for everyday use,’ said Darias, who pioneered the Silbo Gomero learning program. … ‘Having the whistle protected within our compulsory curriculum prevents extinction altogether.’ …

“Silbo Gomero, which is one of the most studied whistling languages and was officially declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage by Unesco in 2009, uses six condensed sounds to communicate. Two differentiating whistles replace the five spoken vowels in Spanish, while just four replace the 22 consonants. Whistlers elongate or shorten the sounds to mimic the words.

“Several whistling methods exist on the island, though perhaps the most traditional is demonstrated by local sculptor José Darías. His Whistling Tree sculpture at Mirador de Igualero, a viewpoint in Vallehermoso overlooking a ravine where Silbo Gomero was most active, shows how the index finger should be bent and placed inside the mouth while whistling with an open palm beside it to amplify the sound.

“Experienced whistlers use different finger methods and can often tell who is calling by the whistle’s ‘accent’ alone – but most whistlers will introduce themselves and call the recipient’s name. When the message is understood, they whistle back ‘bueno bueno.’ …

“DNA-based research published in 2019 by Tenerife’s La Laguna University has matched La Gomera’s early inhabitants, the Guanches, with Berbers (now known locally as Amazigh). These indigenous people roamed North African regions more than 3,000 years ago and communicated by whistle; it’s therefore widely believed that the Spanish settlers on the island adapted the whistling language of La Gomera’s early inhabitants to suit their native tongue. …

“Silbo Gomero lent itself to La Gomera’s demanding terrain – namely its deep ravines – allowing the locals to communicate with a drifting, piercing sound that could travel for several kilometres. From atop the ravines, the locals would announce events, request livestock be brought over, warn of impending danger, or even announce the death of a family member. ‘It saved a lot of climbing,’ said Darias.

“In the 1950s, Silbo Gomero was used so frequently that there was often a scattered queue of farmers waiting to send instructions across the valleys. … ‘Nobody wanted to climb up and down the ravines to pass on a message. Because of this, so many whistling conversations were happening at the same time, and we would have to wait our turn,’ Darias said. …

“Silbo Gomero was first in decline by the 1960s, when growing economic conditions forced many of the island’s workers to emigrate to more prosperous countries like Cuba and Venezuela, as well as the neighboring Canary Island of Tenerife. Soon after, phones became commonplace and threatened the language altogether.

“By the 1990s, modern technology ascendancy and the introduction of new roads and paths on La Gomera removed the necessity and practicality of Silbo Gomero, dangling it near extinction. …

“ ‘The whistle has been defended with greater care in the Canary Islands, [local broadcast journalist Francisca Gonzalez Santana] noted, ‘because it is an essential part of our culture: the orography of the islands, with mountain areas and canyons, and our economy that has been linked to agriculture and livestock.’

“While the whistle is now rarely heard outside of school or other official programs, however, it is occasionally used in the few parts of the island with no telephone connection. ‘I know of two goat herders who still whistle to each other,’ Darias said. … ‘Their livestock moves around in an area with no mobile network, and that’s why it’s necessary.’ “

More at the BBC, here. No firewall. You can listen to whistlers sending messages here, at the radio show called The World. And be sure to read my 2015 post, here, on a Turkish whistling language.

The world is full of amazing things.

Read Full Post »

Creating a Fog Farm

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on November 23, 2022| 6 Comments »

Oh, the ingenuity of our species when we put our minds to a problem! Lack of water in the Canary Islands seems to have inspired problem solvers to pull water from thin air.

Colette Davidson at the Christian Science Monitor writes, “On a clear day, the tiny hamlet of La Vega, stacked up high on the hillsides of northern Tenerife, offers spectacular views of the rugged Atlantic coast. But this afternoon, the thick mist spiraling through Jonay González Pérez and Sara Rodríguez Dorta’s farmland sets an eerie Alfred Hitchcock filmlike scene. Nearly ripe for fog harvesting.

“ ‘There’s almost enough fog to start collecting it,’ says Mr. González Pérez, trudging through ankle-high grass in rubber galoshes as he snaps dead leaves off an artichoke plant. ‘But we need to wait a little longer, until the fog is at the same level as the catcher.’

“Since 2018, Mr. González Pérez and his wife have relied solely on fog collecting to water their 3.7 acres of farmland – which includes lemon and plum trees, artichoke plants, and 50 chickens – when rain is in short supply in the summer months.

“On a good day, the couple’s 435-yard-long wall of collectors – vertical U-shaped nets cemented into the ground by metal poles – can harvest 475 gallons of water. The suspended fog droplets fall from the nets and flow through 220 yards of black tubing, which snake down the back of their property into a 95,000-gallon storage tank that resembles a giant waterbed.

“Their system – which the couple built with their bare hands over the course of a year – was entirely paid for through government subsidies, after they won a local award for the best initiative in rural farming.

“But this isn’t just a pet project for small-scale farmers. In 2020, the European Commission partnered with the local government in neighboring Gran Canaria to fund the Life Nieblas fog-collecting project, which aims to reforest areas decimated by drought or forest fire. Harvested fog water meets the World Health Organization’s standards on drinking water safety and has provided isolated communities with a much needed resource for decades.

“As the Canary Islands and regions around the world look to combat the effects of climate change, fog collecting is becoming an increasingly viable technology for communities facing soil erosion and water supply challenges.

“ ‘Fundamentally, we depend on our groundwater in the Canary Islands and water is always scarce,’ says María Victoria Marzol Jaén, a retired climate scientist at the University of La Laguna on Tenerife and one of the pioneering researchers into fog collecting in the Canary Islands in the 1990s.

“ ‘Fog water alone can’t supply this, but it can be useful for reforestation purposes, like in the case of forest fires. But for rural zones, where water consumption is much lower, [fog collecting] is more than just helpful. It can be the solution to water problems.’

“The first documented experiments into fog as an alternative water resource can be traced to South Africa in the early 1900s. In 1963, Chilean physicist Carlos Espinosa’s invention of ‘mist traps’ were patented and offered to UNESCO for free use around the world. Since then, researchers have made significant developments into the green technology, and research sites can be found in Chile, Peru, South Africa, Morocco, China, the United States, and the Canary Islands. …

“Apart from the initial materials and building costs, fog collection is a low-energy operation, whose structures, like netting, can blend more seamlessly into natural environments than wind turbines or solar panels. Upkeep involves merely clearing away overgrown plants and cleaning the filters.

“ ‘Fog collecting doesn’t consume any energy and doesn’t affect any other natural resources,’ says Ricardo Gil, a technical architect in Tenerife who runs the Nieblagua company. He has installed around 100 fog collectors across the Canary Islands, mainland Spain, and Portugal. ‘It also takes the pressure off extracting water from aquifers or desalinating ocean water.’

“Each of Nieblagua’s catchers can withstand winds of up to 62 mph, and use four sheets of netting to collect up to 8,000 gallons of water per year in optimum conditions. In several of the Canary Islands, which benefit from around five hours of fog per day, this translates to almost one person’s entire water needs. …

“For thirsty, drought-stricken regions, that can mean the difference between survival and desertification – especially when multiple catchers are set up in one area. In Arafo on Tenerife, 12 of Nieblagua catchers provide an estimated 26,000 gallons annually to new almond tree plantations.

“ ‘It’s not a fantasy. We’re using up our natural resources all around the world,’ says Mr. Gil. … ‘Here we have a natural resource right in front of us. We need to take advantage of it.’ ”

More at the Monitor, here. No firewall.

Read Full Post »