Can 1,000 Pigeons Pecking For 1,000 Years Create “Kind Of Blue”?
By: KC Ifeanyi
Agency TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris’ installation for Johannesburg’s 13th annual Joy of Jazz festival employs local pigeons to give a taste of what to music fans can expect--or at least a flock of pigeons’ take on what to expect.
A shaggy rocker swaggers into Johannesburg’s Pigeon Square with what appears to be every intention of holding an outdoor jam session. Amps plugged in and equipment assembled, the first bluesy chords roll out of a guitar as passerby look on in confusion--confusion because pigeons, evidently, have got some serious soul…or are just seriously hungry.
To promote Standard Bank’s Joy of Jazz festival in Johannesburg, agency TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris created an installation in Pigeon Square that left the music to the birds. Drums, keyboards, and guitars were liberally sprinkled with bird seed as the pigeons played (nay, pecked) discordant notes that, thanks to a bit of savvy editing, come together in a tune that’s not all so bad--that is, if you’re critiquing on a rather large curve given the fact that these are pigeons and all.
