Local musical comedy duo, The Funny Terns, are spreading awareness for the ‘Rewilding Britain’ movement with their latest Christmas release.
The song, Bring Back the Beaver, was inspired by the beaver sighting in April this year, making headlines as the species returned to Bristol after 500 years.
Spreading a positive message, the song celebrates Mother Nature and makes humorous comparisons the human body.
Comedy duo Natalie FĂ©e and Angus Barr collaborated with media production student Chi Huang in the making of ‘Bring Back the Beaver’ music video.
Ben Barker, the secretary of the BS3 Wildlife group, shared his thoughts on the song: “Music, pictures and stories and so on are very helpful actually, in getting people to be aware of wildlife”.
Whilst enjoying the Christmas tune, secretary Ben Barker was reminded of the sad story behind the beaver sighting:
“The creature was lost. We don’t know where it came from. We think it probably came from a Beaver colony, up the Avon on the other side of Bath. So it was well away from any other beavers.”
Bristol City Council have also recently published the Parks and Green Spaces Strategy, highlighting plans for wildlife conversation in the city:
“Bristol is supporting a wider range of wildlife, with the complete return of species such as pine marten, red kite and beavers, as a consequence of Ecological Emergency activity.”
Inspired by the prospect of Christmas number one, The Funny Terns believe nature deserves the top spot this year.
After tomorrow night’s chart, the running for Christmas number one goes live, counting streams and sales until midnight 22 December.
Other Bristol artists were also supportive of the cause.
Liam Evans, guitar player from local band ‘Cruelty’, said: “I think it’s brilliant because for music to have a political or environmental message, it doesn’t have to be this kind of serious song.
“So they’ve done a really good job of doing a great light-hearted, funny track for the festive period.”
According to Liam, Bristol does “turn out expensive” for independent artists: “It can be difficult. The costs don’t really work out.
“Bristol has a really rich music scene, but there aren’t many nationally known artists that are known outside of the city, so I think someone from Bristol putting Bristol on the national music map and doing it for such a great cause which is close to my heart as well is great.”
