Bel Canto - Birds of Passage (live at Sirkus Midgard)

This is the title track from Bel Canto’s second album, released in 1990.
At the time, the trio frequently moved between two contrasting habitats: their Arctic hometown of Tromsø and their new base in the Belgian capital, Brussels. The lyrics may reflect a sense of kinship with migratory birds—creatures who, like the band, depend on navigating between distant extremes to sustain their lives and identity.

The footage is taken from the cinema music documentary Stein & Stjerner, which follows a 1994 concert tour featuring Bel Canto and their longtime friends and collaborators, DumDum Boys. The bands toured with their own circus tent, carrying the full production, consisting of more than 300 meters of trucks, trailers, and buses.

Those who have attended Bel Canto concerts may know that the band often makes bold changes and new arrangements to their material. Birds of Passage is one of the songs that has undergone several transformations over the years, and this video captures a rare live version of that song.

BIRDS OF PASSAGE

Feel the winds on the ridges
The whirls in the meadows
The ice-capped reeds announce
That the air is colder

I feel the strength of my heart
Quiver inside me
But I have no cure
For the languor in your eyes

So don't ask
That question
´cos I don't know the reason
Why it must be just like this

No don't ask
That question
Believe me I don't know why
It has to end this way

The wind will carry me away
The wind that would have killed us both
It saves my life

Your wish I'll keep in mind
And if it won't come true
Our dream will dream

Songwriters: Anneli Drecker / Geir Bjornar Jenssen / Nils P. Johansen


Anneli: Vocals
Nils: Guitar
Andreas Eriksen: Percussion
Kirsti Nyutstumo: Bass guitar

Front of house mix: Trond Mikalsen
Backline technician: Bjørn "Bønna" Helberg
Monitor engineer: Andre Trebbi
Mixed for soundtrack: Ulf Holand
Lighting engineer: Tord Knutsen

Bel Canto thanks Lars Nilssen and Odd Syse at Sherpa Film for making it possible to use footage from the movie Stein & Stjerner.