Recording in Nepal for Siddhartha, She @ Aspen

This summer I traveled to India and Nepal to record soundscapes as the sound designer for the opera "Siddhartha, She." Within a few hours in Bardiya National Park, I encounted a large tiger! Below is that tiger.

There are between 5 & 6 thousand tigers estimated in the wild, and so to see one is incredibly rare. I took it as a good omen for the trip.

Pictured below is my guide Rajan, who was the naturalist/conservationist of the year in Asia. He has been the guide for Leo DeCaprio among others. You can see the open top cars that you tour the park in,

I chose to record in Bardiya as it is the most wild and intact ecosystem which is closest to where the original Buddha lived. The Buddha was born in what is now known as Lumbini, however hardly any of the original ecosystem is intact . As a consequence Lumbini is quite loud and lacking in rich or interesting soundscapes. At least, nothing interesting to present with an opera :).

One of my favorite (and most frequent sightings) in the park is the Indian pitta. They were everwhere! They are one of 600+ species present in Bardiya.

A post with more photos and audio is forthcoming!

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