Zwierzęce początki muzyki. O „Ptasim radiu” Juliana Tuwima
Animal origins of music. The poem “Bird radio” by Julian Tuwim

Summary/Abstract: The essay is concerned with the topic of archaic “ethological tales”, which often present non‑anthropocentric definitions of an animal as an emotional, rational, aesthetic creature – not formulated in opposition to the human. This point of view also appears in the poetry of Julian Tuwim, who connects the mythical idea of interspecies community with the Darwinian theory of evolution. In “Ptasie radio”/”Bird radio” (1938) he shows, for example, that the concept of melic poetry inherited from the ancient Greeks, has a biological base and comes from birds’ vocalisation. Analysing birds’ mating songs leads him to the idea that not only does man have the ability to generate aesthetic sounds, but that he also shares this ability also with other animals. Today, his intuition can be confirmed also in the field of genetic research.

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