As published in the programme of Fanshawe’s Royal Festival Hall Celebration Concert in 2012

Dr David Fanshawe, Composer & Explorer (1942-2010)

David Fanshawe will best be remembered for his legendary choral work African Sanctus and for his great legacy to World Music The Fanshawe World Music Archive, a vast archive of recordings of traditional music, images and hand-written journals. “His collection of field recordings and the knowledge this imparts is invaluable.” The British Library Sound Archive

He will also be remembered for his charismatic personality and captivating performances, giving speeches and presentations to schools and festivals, and at fundraising and corporate events around the world. He composed over 50 film and television scores and about 25 other works. His work has been the subject of award-winning television documentaries, over 30 CD releases, and thousands of concert performances worldwide. David Fanshawe received many international awards, among them a Churchill Fellowship, an Ivor Novello Award, and an honorary DMus from the University of the West of England (UWE).

David Fanshawe married Judith Croasdell Grant in 1971 with whom he had two children, Alexander and Rebecca. He also had one daughter, Rachel, with his second wife, widow Jane Bishop (née Walton) whom he married in 1985.

David Fanshawe was born in 1942 in Paignton, grew up in Camberley, and was educated at St George’s Choir School Windsor and Stowe. He started work in 1959 as a trainee film editor and sound recordist, first for the Film Producers Guild then at Merton Park Studios. He spent the next few years honing his editing skills and taking piano lessons with a teacher he happened to meet by chance.  She was composer and pianist, Guirne Creith, who saw in Fanshawe more promise as a composer. Then, in 1965, on the strength of performing his own compositions, he was awarded a Foundation Scholarship to the Royal College of Music to study composition with John Lambert. Fanshawe’s early works for orchestra were Dover Castle and Requiem for the Children of Aberfan, which was first performed by the College orchestra, conducted by Harvey Phillips. Among the many film and television scores he produced throughout the ‘70s were Stephen Frears’ films Three Men in a Boat and A Day Out for BBC TV, Flambards and The Good Companions for Yorkshire TV, and David Cobham’s film Tarka the Otter.

In 1966 David made his first journey to the Middle East where his ambition to record indigenous folk music began. The following year he returned with his tape recorder and made his first recordings in Bahrain. Between 1969 and 1975 he travelled through North and East Africa where he recorded over 400 hours of music. He was supported by the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust. “When the committee heard of David Fanshawe’s plan to travel down the Nile to collect and record the music native to the countries in those still remote areas, we were both interested and impressed by his project. We knew, too, from the examples of collectors of folk music working at the beginning of this century, what musical treasures have been rescued from oblivion in our own islands, in America - from the descendants of the early settlers and from Europe, where musicians of the stature of Bartok and Kodaly devoted much time to this work. So we were glad to be able to help.” Ursula Vaughan Williams

During this period David Fanshawe composed an African trilogy, which began with Salaams - a musical essay based on the chants of the pearl divers of Bahrain. It is dedicated to John Lambert, who conducted the première performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in May 1970 and subsequent recording (Philips) with Fanshawe as soloist in the cantor role. It was Salaams that first brought Fanshawe national recognition. Significantly, it is his first work scored for pre-recorded tape and in a ground-breaking way: a departure from the ‘electronic music’ of the ‘60s and ahead of the time when World Music, as we know it today, exploded on to the scene in the late ‘80s and ‘90s. Unlike earlier ‘music explorers’ - Ralph Vaughan Williams, Percy Grainger, George Butterworth - David Fanshawe lived in an age of technology. With his tape recorder, not only did he record indigenous music, but he has preserved authentic live performances in his field recordings. It is his use of these recordings that brings a whole new dimension to this genre, particularly in African Sanctus. In his 1974 forward to Fanshawe’s book African Sanctus the late Sir Keith Falkner, Director of the Royal College of Music, wrote “David is perhaps the most original, independent and self-reliant young man I have known; a visionary with the character and tenacity to convert his visions into reality.”

Completing the trilogy is Arabian Fantasy, a commission from Naim Attallah, to whom the work is dedicated. Arabian Fantasy, a set of variations on an Arabian theme, is based on instrumental folk music recorded in Egypt and became the subject of a BBC/Namara Entertainments documentary film. Owain Arwel Hughes conducted the première performance at the Royal Albert Hall in 1976. “Let my music embrace the spirit of the sirocco and harmonise people and their musics from east to west.”[DF]

In 1978 David Fanshawe’s focus shifted from Africa to the Pacific when he made his first visit to Fiji. Based at the University of the South Pacific he embarked on a ten year voyage of research, recording over 25 nations across the Pacific Ocean, which has resulted in a monumental archive. His research was the subject of the 1987 award-winning documentary films Musical Mariner 1 & 2 (Lucky Country), broadcast on national and international TV channels, including PBS’ Explorer Series and National Geographic. The Fanshawe World Music Archive holds thousands of hours of tapes, slides and journals, which have preserved traditional forms of ethnic music-making throughout the Pacific Region. “The cultural significance of David Fanshawe’s work is immense.” National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra

The first composition to be inspired by music of the Pacific came as a result of a commission Fanshawe accepted from the distinguished cellist Steven Isserlis CBE. The specific request was for “a primitive, ethnic-influenced piece, with charm - can these elements be combined in one piece?” The Awakening is an Intermezzo for Cello and Piano and is introduced by pan-pipes from the Solomon Islands. Steven Isserlis recorded The Awakening in 1986 with the composer at the piano (Philips). The Awakening is a pivotal work and was to have found its place in Pacific Odyssey, a large-scale work which Fanshawe left unfinished. His last completed work is Pacific Song, which was also to have formed a part of Pacific Odyssey. Inspired by the music of Tonga, it is scored for chorus, flute and percussion. Pacific Song was commissioned by the American Choral Directors’ Association and the première performance was given at its 2007 National Convention in Miami by the Multicultural Honor Choir.

In 1992 Fanshawe returned to England from Australia. He made one further journey through the tropics in South East Asia to record the traditional music of India, Thailand, and Laos, which is documented in the film Tropical Beat (Eclectic Films). After that he returned to his studio, to digitally copying and cataloguing his collections, and to composing. He also fulfilled about 30 speaking engagements a year to give his highly acclaimed illustrated presentation One World - One Music. Fanshawe revised some of his early scores, notably Tarka the Otter Symphonic Suite and Dover Castle, an ‘autobiographical’ work, which as if to add his signature to the score, was hand-engraved. During this period Fanshawe composed Dona Nobis Pacem, Fanfare to Planet Earth, Millennium March, Serenata, Trafalgar, Lament of the Seas, and finally Pacific Song.

In 2009 when David Fanshawe was awarded an honorary DMus from the University of the West of England the citation read: “In recognition of his outstanding contribution to bringing music from around the world into the lives of people who neither read nor write music and to his pursuit of musical excellence, which is synonymous with the aims of the University’s Centre for Performing Arts”. The speech he made might apply as well this evening as it did on accepting his degree: “In my serendipitous career, through the adventures of Music and Travel, I have been privileged to experience our world as a composer and musical explorer. It is now my humble dream to go on sharing my aspirations with future generations, through the legacy of my Sound Archives; and by fulfilling my life’s missions, which are: to celebrate the universal language of music; to record for posterity endangered World Music, threatened with extinction; to seek inspiration for my own compositions - thus uniting musical worlds apart. Thank you for this quite unexpected honour and tribute.”

by Katharine Copisarow

Quotes

The Power of the Moment is now!” David Fanshawe

“2% of People do, 98% of people wish they had” David Fanshawe

“How can I go along and find a fantastic ceremony and not join in. We’re here to make music together, we live on a very small planet. We are sharing that planet together. We’re going to the moon, going to the starts and sun. One must praise what one has now, because we are living now.” David Fanshawe, 1975 AS BBC Film


“I want to sing the praises of David Fanshawe. His music is literally unique, both in conception and completion. Fanshawe is also deeply concerned lest the folk music of the endangered countries should be lost to future generations.  He has made the world his parish; as a notebook he uses a tape recorder, as sketch book a camera.” Antony Hopkins, BBC Radio 3

“David Fanshawe is as buoyant, optimistic, energetic and exuberant as his music.” Herbert Chappell, BBC TV

“David seemed a man out of time - all Englishness from his shorts and sandals, to his heart of darkness travels, to his ebullient optimism, to his very name. And yet his mastery of sound recording and the technology to preserve the results ensured a legacy worthy of anyone in the modern era. From the moment he stepped on stage dressed for Africa, complete with his trusty Nagra tape recorder and mic on a boom his presentation proved a show-stopper. David's warmth, generosity and musical joie de vivre remain cornerstone memories of my life. Chris Wheatley

“You have inspired us all with your story to go out and find the world for ourselves” St Leonards School, 6th Form

“The word 'unique' is sometimes employed imprecisely, but in David's case it seems to fit exactly - he was certainly not remotely like anyone else I for one have ever known. Some might call his message naive, but it is difficult to see how the world's problems are going to be ameliorated without the love and the tolerance that are at the core of his music. "I love the world!" he said, and really meant it. He saw humankind as a single entity, with a single God at its centre.” Timothy Bond

“Rarely, rarely does the musical world see a composer of such utter originality, vision, humility and ability to assimilate diverse media and world music into his own, unmistakable voice. As a man David was a gentle giant; as a composer his music inspired and touched the hearts of millions around the world. Our lives have been enriched by knowing the man, his unshakable belief in humanity, his generosity of spirit, his beautiful music and his vision of life as a pulsing, pounding celebration.” Richard Blackford

“David Fanshawe affected so many lives around the globe - his influence is incalculable. His charm, wit, and exuberance made him such a memorable person, and musically, his talent was towering. All who sang his music will never forget it, or him.” Eleanor Skydell, choir member, Chicago

“No doubt he is [now] composing for galaxies. God wish that each of us be so tall, so true, so foolish for joy, so doubtlessly dancing as David Fanshawe.” John S. Hale, United States

“Before Fanshawe, ethnomusicology was an unglamorous profession, now there are many people who want to follow in his footsteps.” The Guardian

“David’s remarkable personality, wonderful sense of the absurd and eccentricity drew me to him and he inspired and helped me in my musical sense and passion to enjoy life at School. His free-wheeling joyous and infectious spirit was always something to enjoy as was the serious contemplative side” Tim Cecil, Stowe school friend, now in Melbourne

“After the concert, David was charming, if a tad frazzled from having to say hello to so many people! I got the impression though, that he lived his life this way.” Jenny