Baleen hair is attached to each baleen plate

Baleen or so called whalebone is a filter-feeder system inside the mouths of baleen whales. The baleen system works when a whale opens its mouth underwater and then water pours into the whale's mouth. The whale then pushes the water out, and animals such as krill are filtered by the baleen and remain as food source for the whale. Baleen is similar to bristles and is made of keratin, the same substance found in human fingernails and hair. Some whales, such as the bowhead whale, have longer baleen than others. Others whales, such as the gray whale, only use one side of their baleen. These baleen bristles are arranged in plates across the upper jaw of the whale.

Depending on the species, a baleen plate can be 0.5 to 3.5 metres (1.6 to 11 ft) long, and weigh up to 90 kilograms (200 lb). Its hairy fringes are called baleen hair or whalebone-hair. They are also called baleen bristles, which in sei whales are highly calcified, calcification functioning to increase their stiffness.^[1][2] Baleen plates are broader at the gumline (base). The plates have been compared to sieves or Venetian blinds.

Etymology[link]

The word "baleen" derives from Early Modern English word meaning "whale". This in turn derives from the Latin balaena, related to the Greek phalaina – both of these also mean "whale".

Evolution[link]

The oldest true fossils of baleen are only 15 million years old, but baleen rarely fossilizes, and scientists^[who?] believe it originated considerably earlier than that. This is indicated by baleen-related skull modifications being found in fossils from considerably earlier, including a buttress of bone in the upper jaw beneath the eyes, and loose lower jaw bones at the chin. Baleen is believed to have evolved around thirty million years ago, possibly from a hard, gummy upper jaw, like the one a Dall's porpoise has. In fact, it resembles baleen closely at the microscopic level.

Many early baleen whales also had teeth, but these were probably used only peripherally, or perhaps not at all (again like Dall's porpoise, which catches squid and fish by gripping them against its hard upper jaw).

Filter feeding[link]

A whale's baleen plates play the most important role in its filter-feeding process. In order to feed, a baleen whale opens its mouth widely and scoops in dense shoals of prey (such as krill, copepods, small fish and sometimes birds that happen to be near the shoals), together with large volumes of water. It then partly shuts its mouth and presses its tongue against its upper jaw, forcing the water to pass out sideways through the baleen, thus sieving out the prey which it then swallows.

Human uses[link]

People formerly used baleen for making numerous items where flexibility and strength were required, including collar stiffeners, buggy whips and parasol ribs, and as corset stays. It was commonly used to crease paper; its flexibility kept it from damaging the paper. It was also occasionally used in cable-backed bows. Synthetic materials are now usually used for similar purposes, especially plastic and fibre glass. Baleen was frequently used in the 18th and early 19th centuries as the handle for silver punch or toddy ladles. It was chosen for this use because of its insulating qualities. Baleen plates are also used by indigenous people to create fine crafts.^{[citation needed]}

As a habitat[link]

Baleen serves as a habitat for some species from the gastropod families Pyropeltidae, Cocculinidae, Osteopeltidae and Neolepetopsidae.^[3]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• St. Aubin, D. J.; Stinson, R. H.; Geraci, J. R. (1984). "Aspects of the structure and composition of baleen, and some effects of exposure to petroleum hydrocarbons". Canadian Journal of Zoology 62 (2): 193–8. DOI:10.1139/z84-032. 
• Meredith, Robert W.; Gatesy, John; Cheng, Joyce; Springer, Mark S. (2010). "Pseudogenization of the tooth gene enamelysin (MMP20) in the common ancestor of extant baleen whales". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 278 (1708): 993–1002. DOI:10.1098/rspb.2010.1280. PMC 3049022. PMID 20861053. //www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=3049022. Lay summary – Thoughtomics (March 16, 2011). 

See also[link]

• John Henry Devereux South Carolina architect who used whale jaw bones to adorn the largest mansion on Sullivan's Island

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Baleen

Vashti Bunyan
Vashti Bunyan performing at the Summer Sundae festival in Leicester in 2006
Background information
Also known as	Vashti
Born	1945 (age 66–67)
Origin	London
Genres	Folk
Years active	1965–1970, 2002–present
Labels	Decca Columbia (EMI) Philips Spinney Fat Cat (UK) DiCristina[1] (USA)
Website	forthstreet.demon.co.uk anotherday.co.uk

Vashti Bunyan (born 1945) is an English singer-songwriter. In 1970, Bunyan released her first album, Just Another Diamond Day. The album sold very few copies, and Bunyan, discouraged, abandoned her musical career. By 2000, her album had acquired a cult following; it was re-released and Bunyan recorded more songs, initiating the second phase of her musical career after a gap lasting thirty years.

Biography[link]

Vashti Bunyan was born in London in 1945 to John and Helen Bunyan. Although she has been said to be descended from The Pilgrim's Progress author John Bunyan,^[2] this is a claim she has herself denied.^[3] In the early 1960s, she studied at The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art at Oxford University, but was expelled for failing to turn up to classes. At 18, she travelled to New York and discovered the music of Bob Dylan through his The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan album and decided to become a full-time musician. Returning to London she was discovered by Rolling Stones' manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, and, in June 1965, under his direction, she released her first single, the Jagger and Richards penned "Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind" (their own version later turning up on the outtakes compilation Metamorphosis), on Decca Records. Released using simply the name Vashti, it was backed with her own song "I Want to Be Alone". The single and her follow-up "Train Song", released on Columbia in May 1966, produced by Canadian Peter Snell, received little attention. Her only other performance of this time to find release was her distinctive vocal on "The Coldest Night of the Year" with Twice as Much (which eventually turned up on their second and final LP, That's All, appearing on Oldham's Immediate Records in 1968). After recording further songs for Immediate Records, which remain unreleased, and making a brief appearance in the 1967 documentary Tonite Let's All Make Love in London, performing her song "Winter Is Blue", she decided to travel with her boyfriend Robert Lewis by horse and cart to the Hebridean Islands to join a commune planned by a friend, fellow folk singer Donovan ("...from South London up to the Hebrides. Initially to Skye but we carried on to the Outer Hebrides."^[4]). During the trip she began writing the songs that eventually became her first album, Just Another Diamond Day.

During a break from her trip at Christmas 1968, she met Joe Boyd through a friend and he offered to record an album of her travelling songs for his Witchseason Productions. A year later Vashti returned to London and recorded her first LP with assistance from Simon Nicol and Dave Swarbrick of Fairport Convention, Robin Williamson of The Incredible String Band and string arranger Robert Kirby, today best known for his work on Nick Drake's first two albums. The album appeared on Philips Records to warm reviews in December 1970, but struggled to find an audience. Disappointed, she left the music industry and moved to The Incredible String Band's Glen Row cottages, then Ireland. Much of the ensuing 30 years were spent raising her three children and tending animals. In this time, entirely unknown to her, the original album slowly became one of the most sought-after records of its time. It has sold on eBay for as much as $2000.

In 2000, Just Another Diamond Day was re-released on CD (with bonus tracks), assuring her influence over a new generation of folk artists such as Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom. In 2001, Banhart wrote to her asking for her advice, beginning her connection with many of the contemporary performers who cite her work. In 2002, she was invited by Piano Magic musician Glen Johnson to sing guest vocals on his song "Crown of the Lost", her first recording in over 30 years. Since then, she has appeared on releases by Devendra Banhart and Animal Collective and, in 2005, she recorded and released her second album, Lookaftering on Fat Cat Records, some 35 years after her first. The album was produced by composer Max Richter and featured many of her contemporary followers including Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Adem, Kevin Barker of Currituck Co, Otto Hauser of Espers and Adam Pierce of Mice Parade. It was well received by critics and fans alike.

During the autumn of 2006, Bunyan assembled an ad hoc band and embarked on a brief North American tour, with performances in both Canada and the US. She performed songs from both of her solo albums, as well as some of the rare material from the unreleased Oldham sessions.

Her music reached a much wider audience when "Just Another Diamond Day" was used in a TV advert for a mobile phone company.

In 2007, she collaborated with Scottish novelist Rodge Glass on the song "The Fire" for the compilation album Ballads of the Book. The album was devised by Roddy Woomble of Idlewild, as a way to combine Scottish writers with Scottish singers, though in this case Bunyan must have been included by virtue of living in Edinburgh.

October 2007 saw the release of a compilation album of her mid-1960s singles and unreleased demos recorded at the time entitled Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind - Singles and Demos 1964 to 1967.

2007 also saw Vashti provide vocals on three songs for former Jack frontman Anthony Reynolds' debut solo album British Ballads. Bunyan sang with Reynolds on the songs "Country Girl", "Just So You Know" and "Song Of Leaving".

In January 2008, Vashti said she was recording a new album. "I’m supposed to be writing just now. I have one complete song and a whole lot of fragments. I’m supposed to have them finished by May and there’s no way. I’m hoping, and the plan is, I’ll be working with Andy Cabic of Vetiver."^[5]

In June 2008, Vashti appeared at London's Royal Festival Hall with The Heritage Orchestra as part of Massive Attack's Meltdown, in a live performance of Vangelis' Blade Runner soundtrack, singing "Rachael's Song" as sung by Mary Hopkin on the original recorded soundtrack.

In July 2008, Reebok used Bunyan's "Train Song" in an NFL gear advertisement. Samsung used the same song in "Smart TV" commercials in 2011.

On 25 October 2008, Vashti Bunyan: From Here To Before, a feature documentary directed by Kieran Evans had its world premieres at the Times BFI London Film Festival. The film retraces Bunyan’s journey across the British Isles and sets it against the backdrop of her first high-profile London concert. It uses her trip through Britain as its main narrative structure, accompanying her as she retraces her extraordinary journey. The album provides the soundtrack to that journey, just as it did the first time.

She is name-checked in the Half Man Half Biscuit song "Totnes Bickering Fair", from the album CSI:Ambleside.

Bunyan's cover of the late John Martyn's "Head and Heart" will appear on an upcoming tribute album, titled "Johnny Boy Would Love This...A Tribute to John Martyn."^[6]

Critical reception[link]

Bunyan has been labelled "the Godmother of Freak Folk"^[7] for her role in inspiring the "new generation of folk experimentalists including Devendra Banhart and Adem".^[7][8]

Some internet journalistic sources categorize her music as folk, psych folk, or new folk.^[9]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• Just Another Diamond Day (Philips 1970)
• Lookaftering (Fat Cat Records 2005)

Compilations[link]

• Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind – Singles and Demos 1964 to 1967 (Fat Cat Records/Spinney Records 2007)

Singles[link]

• "Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind" / "I Want To Be Alone" (Decca, 1965) (as Vashti)
• "Train Song" / "Love Song" (Columbia (EMI), 1966) (as Vashti)

Compilation appearances[link]

• Tonite Let's All Make Love in London (1967)
  • "Winter Is Blue" (as Vashti)
  • "Winter Is Blue (Reprise)" (as Vashti)
• Circus Days - UK Psychedelic Obscurities 1966-70 Vol.1 (1990)
  • "I'd Like To Walk Around In Your Mind" (as Vashti)
• A Pot By Any Other Name (2001) (Ptolemaic Terrascope compilation)
  • "17 Pink Sugar Elephants" (rec. 1966) (early variation of "Train Song")
• Instant Karma (2002)
  • "Winter Is Blue" (as Vashti) (combined version of song from Tonite Let's All Make Love in London)
• Folk Rock and Faithfull: Dream Babes Vol. 5 (2004)
  • "Train Song" (rec. 1966) (as Vashti)
  • "Love Song" (rec. 1966) (as Vashti)
• The Golden Apples of the Sun (2004)
  • "Rejoicing in the Hands" (with Devendra Banhart)
• The Enlightened Family: A Collection Of Lost Songs (2005)
  • "Song of a Wishwanderer" (rec. 1968)
• Not Alone (2006)
  • "Same But Different"
• Ballads of the Book (2007)
  • "The Fire" (lyrics by Rodge Glass)
• Reebok Join the Migration Campaign (2008)
  • "Train Song"
• Gather In The Mushrooms - The British Acid-Folk Underground 1968 - 1974 (2004)
  • "Winter Is Blue"

Guest appearances[link]

• Twice as Much - That's All (1970)
  • "Coldest Night of the Year" (rec. 1967)
• Piano Magic - Writers Without Homes (2002)
  • "Crown of the Lost"
• Piano Magic - Saint Marie EP (2004)
  • "Dark Ages"
• Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing in the Hands (2004)
  • "Rejoicing in the Hands"
• Animal Collective - Prospect Hummer (2005)
  • "It's You"
  • "Prospect Hummer"
  • "I Remember Learning How to Dive"
• Vetiver- "Thing of the Past" (2008)
  • "Sleep a Million Years"
• Dudley Benson- "Forest: Songs by Hirini Melbourne" (2010)
  • "Tui"

Legacy[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2010)

• Her voice was heard on Saint Etienne Presents Finisterre (2005), a documentary about London featuring the music of the band Saint Etienne.
• "Diamond Day" has been featured in a TV advertisement for T-Mobile, a mobile phone company.
• Friend, fellow folk singer and longtime fan Devendra Banhart reportedly writes her name on his arm before some concerts.
• Lush covered her song "I'd Like To Walk Around In Your Mind". They got to know it from the "Circus Days" compilation.
• In July 2008, Reebok launched an advertising campaign featuring "Train Song".
• On 25 October 2008, Vashti Bunyan: From Here To Before, a feature documentary directed by Kieran Evans, premiered at the Times BFI London Film Festival.
• A cover of "Train Song" performed by Ben Gibbard and Feist appeared on Dark Was The Night, a charity compilation benefiting HIV/AIDS awareness and the Red Hot Organization. It was released by 4AD on February 17, 2009.
• Diamond Day was featured in the popular UK teen comedy/drama Skins on the third series, episode six entitled "Naomi".
• Her song Here Before was recently covered by the Swedish artist Fever Ray.
• Here Before also featured in the soundtrack for the BBC production Heist, about a medieval burglary.
• Train song was selected as the background music for Samsung's SMART TV Commercial.
• Vashti's important link to the back-to-the-land counterculture of the 1970s and the insightful expressions of 'nature' in her work have been discussed in an academic paper in 2009 by Geographer Keith Halfacree (‘"Glow worms show the path we have to tread": the counterurbanisation of Vashti Bunyan’, Social and Cultural Geography 10: 771-789).

References[link]

External links[link]

• anotherday.co.uk Official website
• Myspace
• www.terrascope.co.uk Ptolemaic Terrascope article March 2001 (pdf)
• Interview at Pitchfork Media (October 24, 2005)
• Interview at Perfect Sound Forever (March 2005)
• Interview at Tiny Mix Tapes (February 2008)
• 'The guitar came to life in my hands' at The Guardian (September 16, 2005)
• 'Flash-forward' - interview - The Observer (September 18, 2005)
• Interview at Kevchino(October 31, 2007)
• Interview at New York Press(2006)
• Interview at NPR Music(2008)