The Seal, Hanna Tuulikki

Composers talk to Verity Sharp about how their creativity has been shaped by an animal species, how it has formed their approach to making music, and what they’ve discovered about the natural world in the process.

Each episode explores how an animal has served as a muse or guide to expand their musical palette with diverse sets of thinking, ranging from personal healing to musical virtuosity and local ecological concerns. These musicians often incorporate field recordings or natural sounds into their work, treating nature as a collaborator.

For artist and composer Hanna Tuulikki, humans have more in common with the animal world than we realise. Hanna shares her vocal compositions from her short film Seals’kin – featuring the sounds of hundreds of seals on the Ythan estuary on the Aberdeenshire coast. Rooted in folklore, can the song of the seal help soothe concerns about the challenges of climate and biodiversity?

Produced by Tess Davidson
Production support from Rebecca Lennon
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3

Additional seal field recordings by Hanna Tuulikki
Featuring extracts from Seals’kin