In the mountains of Northern Turkey, you might hear the strains of whistling on the breeze. It sounds like birdsong–trills, chirrups, lilting whistles—but it’s entirely human. And, for around 10,000 villagers in the Çanakçı district of Giresun, it’s a highly efficient form of communication.
Using only their fingers, tongue, teeth, lips, and cheeks, people can quickly say things as simple as “okay,” or as complicated as “Would you like to join us tomorrow to harvest hazelnuts?” Once upon a time, this way of communicating was widespread across the mountains and valleys of Trabzon, Rize, Ordu, Artvin and Bayburt, by the Black Sea. Today, it persists only among shepherds, and in one village, Kuşköy, where people call it “bird language.”
In the days before mobile phones, these high pitched noises allowed people to communicate across great distances, with their whistles winging…
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