DF with part of the Fanshawe Pacific Archive, Australia 1987

DF with part of the Fanshawe Pacific Archive, Australia 1987

DF recording the Pearl Divers, Bahrain 1968

DF recording the Pearl Divers, Bahrain 1968

Fijian Dance wearing traditional Tapa cloth, 1980s

Fijian Dance wearing traditional Tapa cloth, 1980s

Master tape box FPC 1342 with DF's original ident handwriting

Master tape box FPC 1342 with DF's original ident handwriting

FPC tape 1553 original analogue tape and master box information

FPC tape 1553 original analogue tape and master box information

Recording lion hunt, Kudu horn, Kenya 1973. Photo: Judith Croasdell

Recording lion hunt, Kudu horn, Kenya 1973. Photo: Judith Croasdell

FPC tape 477, Tahiti drum dance, 1982

FPC tape 477, Tahiti drum dance, 1982

Tahiti drum dance, 1982 (FPC 477) Photo: David Fanshawe

Tahiti drum dance, 1982 (FPC 477) Photo: David Fanshawe

FPC tape 24 with handwritten journal and 5 original photo slides, Tonga 1978

FPC tape 24 with handwritten journal and 5 original photo slides, Tonga 1978

DF recording legendary navigator Piailug Mau, Woleai, Outer Yap Micronesia 1984

DF recording legendary navigator Piailug Mau, Woleai, Outer Yap Micronesia 1984

Tape box, slides and journal for FAC tape 86 (Kenya 16) Turkana 1970

Tape box, slides and journal for FAC tape 86 (Kenya 16) Turkana 1970

Samburu warriors, Kenya 1972. Photo: David Fanshawe

Samburu warriors, Kenya 1972. Photo: David Fanshawe

DF with Fanshawe Pacific Collection, 1987

DF with Fanshawe Pacific Collection, 1987

Part of Fanshawe Pacific Collection, 1987. Note: some tape sides still to be labelled

Part of Fanshawe Pacific Collection, 1987. Note: some tape sides still to be labelled

One shelf of the Fanshawe Pacific Collection for Micronesia, 1984

One shelf of the Fanshawe Pacific Collection for Micronesia, 1984

One of DF's sturdy Stellabox reel-to-reel tape recorders used for his Pacific research, 1978-88

One of DF's sturdy Stellabox reel-to-reel tape recorders used for his Pacific research, 1978-88

FAC tape 49 (Uganda 17), tape, slides and journals, re: Latigo Oteng's Rain Song, Gulu Uganda 1969

FAC tape 49 (Uganda 17), tape, slides and journals, re: Latigo Oteng's Rain Song, Gulu Uganda 1969

Lakalaka historical song, recorded during Christmas celebrations at Hihifo, Ha'apai, Tonga, 1978

Lakalaka historical song, recorded during Christmas celebrations at Hihifo, Ha'apai, Tonga, 1978

Fanshawe Collection tape slide boxes and labels, 1978

Fanshawe Collection tape slide boxes and labels, 1978

  • “His recordings are considered to be of the finest professional standard. The cultural significance of David Fanshawe’s work is immense. ” - National Film and Sound Archive, Australia

  • “David was an inspiration, his collection of field recordings and the knowledge this imparts is invaluable.” - Janet Topp Fargion, The British Library Sound Archive

  • “David’s world of music and adventure, travelling back in time, looks through a window to a different world. The quality of his recording is extraordinary.” — Paul Thomson, Spitfire Audio Productions, ORBIS

  • “There are hundreds of hours’ worth of songs, dances and rituals, an entire ethnological treasure-trove…His contribution to the preservation of now lost musical wonders of the world was a towering achievement that can never be matched or repeated.” — Howard Goodall, Composer, Broadcaster

  • “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.” - David Fanshawe, 2009

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

  • “A giant and a pioneer of World Music…[His work] probably signalled the beginning of world music, as we know it today… There are few people with his passion not only for World Music, but travel, people and Culture.” - David Kayondo, AfroRomanzo World Music

  • “Fanshawe, one of the foremost ethnomusicologists in the world… He has done more for the preservation and archiving of indigenous folk music than anyone else in the past thirty years.” - Britannia Classic Music 2000

  • “I am delighted to know you have decided to continue the digitisation of the music that David so tirelessly collected throughout the Pacific. The Micronesian segment of his Collections that we received from David has been an enormous resource for our people.” - Francis X Hezel, Micronesian Seminar

  • “A marvellous conservation of folk music.” - Folk Roots 1995

  • “A man of courage with a deep respect for the wonders of the musical world.” - Music Web International Tributes

  • “An Explorer whose serendipitous discoveries have resulted in a legacy of inestimable value.” - Barry Wills, Writer for IBM Australia, 1988

  • “The Pacific region will remain forever in his debt for the tremendous music that David created, much of which has now been lost in the relentless tide of ‘modern’ culture that now touches even the remotest shores of our great ocean…long may his extraordinary musical legacy flourish.” - Francois Kunc SC, Past Chairman, Sydney Philharmonia, Australia

The David Fanshawe World Music Archive (1967 - 94)

● 3,200 stereo master tapes ● 40,000 colour slides ● 70 hand-written journals

The Fanshawe World Music Archive is David Fanshawe’s legacy to the world.

David Fanshawe travelled extensively throughout Africa, the Pacific, the Middle East, and South-East Asia recording and preserving the distinctive music of the peoples, for future generations throughout the world.

The Archive originals are largely on 3,100 analogue ‘reel-to-reel’ tapes, 100 digital tapes, as well as colour slides and in hand-written journals, alongside original artefacts, books and documents, The whole Archive continues to be digitised and catalogued at Fanshawe Music base, where access for educational, research and production purposes is available and expanding. By allowing this unrivalled resource to be available for academics, musicians, cultural groups and future generations, this fulfils David’s mission “to celebrate the universal language of music and to record for posterity endangered World Music threatened with extinction.”

In conjunction with his professional experience in film-editing (1960-65), David’s ability to engage, bring together and inspire diverse groups of musicians and cultures has enabled his recordings to be “of the finest professional standard. The cultural significance of David Fanshawe’s work is immense” as noted by The Australian Film and Sound Archive.

Ultimately the original Archive deserves to be in a permanent home of a National Institution or University. It is also aimed that digital copies will be placed with selected international institutions and libraries, such as The British Library, National Film and Sound Archive Australia, local cultural centres, University of Auckland, University of the South Pacific. Fanshawe Music continues its ongoing work digitising all components of the Archive and developing its evolving data catalogue. We seek funding, skills and support to complete this vital work.

If you are interested in protecting David’s legacy towards the Preservation of World Music, please contact us.

Listen…

NOTE: More Music Montages will continue to be uploaded

 
 

Africa

(1969-75 & 1994)

This collection of 500 tapes (250 hours) is predominantly from North and East Africa and recorded between 1969 and 1975. The stereo recordings are largely analogue (reel-to-reel), but in 1994 Fanshawe started recording in digital format (West and East Africa).

The audio recordings are matched with approximately 320 boxes of colour slides and 15 hand-written journals.

Starting in 1969, David’s earlier journeys were sponsored by the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust. After 1971, he worked closely with his first wife Judith and in 1972-3, was supported by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. During all his expeditions, he built close relationships with many local communities and was granted special permission to record some of their most sacred music, rituals and ceremonies. David was acutely aware of how quickly the old songs and traditions of Africa were disappearing. An in-depth research of specific East African tribes was also included, eg Giriama, Masai, Samburu, Shilluk. (see list below).

His African recordings also form the inspiration for David Fanshawe’s seminal work African Sanctus. Selections of his African Recordings are available on various compilation CDs (see Music Shop). We hope you enjoy listening to highlights of his African Archive in these montages.

18 - David Fansahwe records Masai Lion Hunt, Kenya 1973 - Copy.JPG
78 - Masailand.jpg
0W-147 Acholi Bwala Dance Group.jpg
03 - David Fanshawe, Kenya 1972.JPG
0W-171 Edongo.JPG
0W-170 Instrument R.jpg

COUNTRIES

  • Egypt

  • Kenya

  • Senegal

  • Sudan

  • Tanzania & Zanzibar

  • Uganda


ENVIRONMENT

  • frogs

  • jungle animals

  • rain

  • thunderstorm

  • canoe paddling

  • waterfalls

  • water wells


MUSIC TYPES

  • sailing chants

  • recitations

  • hunting/fishing songs

  • nature songs

  • cattle songs

  • love songs

  • social dances

  • initiation rites

  • courtship dances

  • lion hunting

  • ritual dances

INSTRUMENTS

  • bazenkop harp

  • bells

  • whistles

  • chepkombis

  • edongo harp

  • enanga

  • thumb pianos

  • kudu horn

  • marimba (xylophone)

  • skin drums

  • schwaum (shawm)

  • reed trumpets

  • wood drum


AFRICAN TRIBES

  • Abaluhya

  • Acholi

  • Bahak

  • Boni

  • Boran

  • Chuka

  • Dinka

  • Dogodia

  • El Molo

  • Embu

  • Gabbra

  • Giriama

  • Imatong

  • Koro

  • Lamu

  • Latuka

  • Luo

  • Masai

  • Njemps

  • Pokot

  • Polomo

  • Taita

  • Tuken

  • Nyemwezi

  • Samburu

  • Shilluk

  • Sukuma

  • Wagogo

  • Wakamba

  • Zande

Pacific Islands - Oceania

(1978-89 & 1994)

The Fanshawe Pacific Collection is a major archive in itself. Acclaimed as a rare and unique sound picture, it is an unparalleled musical survey of Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia, and focuses on traditional forms of ethnic music-making throughout the Pacific. This comprehensive collection reflects 11 years of research (1978-89) in at least 23 Pacific Nations - a rich resource of music and environmental sounds documented for posterity at a time of great change in the 20th century.

The collection contains over 2000 stereo analogue tapes and 25 digital recordings (1994). Each tape is matched to images from 800 boxes of colour slides and to 38 volumes of hand-written journals documenting history and sociological background. From 1981-85 The University of the South Pacific, Fiji, and National Film and Sound Archive, Australia greatly supported this field research.

As digitising the audio tapes is completed, it is hoped that audio files (and subsequently digital scans and catalogue) are made available to cultural institutions in individual nations and International libraries, such as The Micronesian Seminar, Auckland University, National Film and Sound Archive, University of the South Pacific and The British Library.

Selections of these recordings are available on a number of compilation CDs (see Music Shop). We hope you enjoy listening to highlights of his Pacific Archive in these montages click here for further track details of Pacific Montages.

 
0W-435 Easter Island conche.JPG
0W-370 DF recording reef.jpg
A9R17vkke5_17pz5o3_3ck.jpg
0W-326 Aerial Pacific ocean.JPG
0W-338 Fijian men seated R.jpg
0W-335 Fiji Meke R.jpg

POLYNESIA

  • Austral Is

  • Cook Is

  • Easter Is

  • French Polynesia

  • Hawaii

  • Marquesas Is

  • New Zealand

  • Niue

  • Society Is

  • Tahiti

  • Tokelau

  • Tonga

  • Tuvalu

  • Wallis & Futuna

  • Western Samoa

MICRONESIA

  • Chuuk

  • Guam

  • Hatohobei

  • Kiribati

  • Kosrae

  • Mariana Is

  • Marshall Is

  • Nauru

  • Palau

  • Pohnpei

  • Yap

  • Federated States of Micronesia (FSM)

MELANESIA

  • Fiji

  • New Caledonia

  • Norfolk Is

  • Papua New Guinea

  • Solomon Islands

  • Torres Strait Is

  • Vanuatu








MUSIC TYPES

  • traditional chants

  • dances

  • oration

  • gospel chanting

  • pig dance

  • war songs

  • religious services

  • club dance

  • drum dance

  • skulling chants

  • navigational chants

  • initiation rites

  • custom meetings



INSTRUMENTS

  • slit log gong

  • garamut drum

  • nose flute

  • pan-pipes

  • jaws harp

  • clap stones

  • conch shell

  • ukulele

  • bamboo xylophone






ENVIRONMENT

  • reefs

  • ocean FX

  • hurricanes

  • copra boat engine

  • bird calls

  • crickets

The Middle East

(1967-71)

This Collection includes 40 analogue tapes from the Middle East (1967-71). All recordings are matched with approximately 40 boxes of colour slides and journal entries.

David’s first recording was made in 1967, when he met the Pearl Divers of Bahrain. Here he realised the importance of using professional equipment, this

Further journeys were made to Bahrain and in 1975, he was invited to make a film called Arabian Fantasy, where he revisited the Pearl Divers. One month before he died, he revisited Bahrain and made his very last recording of this wonderful group, some of whom were grandchildren of the divers in 1967.

 

MIDDLE EAST

  • Bahrain

  • Iraq

  • Kuwait

INSTRUMENTS

  • rebbaba

  • oud

  • reed trumpet

Date Picker (square, low res).JPG
0W-98 Bahrain Pearl Divers R.jpg
A9Rhdkta6_17pz5n5_3ck.jpg
Iraq Euphrates2 (low res).JPG
Bahrain Pearl Divers (low res).JPG
A9R9g7wzf_17pz5nh_3ck.jpg

South-East Asia and India

(1976-77 & 1994)

Analogue tapes from Hong Kong (1977) and 60 recordings from South East Asia in digital format (1994). All recordings are matched with colour slides and documentation. For further information regarding Thailand and Laos montage, please click here.

 

SOUTH EAST ASIA

  • Hong Kong

  • Thailand

  • South India

  • Tibet

INSTRUMENTS

  • pong lang xylophone

  • temple gongs

  • kaen (bamboo flute)

  • zheng

A9R1vm6zhr_17pz5nn_3ck.jpg
A9Rwiwdcs_17pz5nx_3ck.jpg
Laos - Khaen music (low res).JPG
Veena in South India - 1994 (JR) (low res).jpg
Pen Sim On.jpg
0W-34 Chinese Zeng.JPG

Listen, Licence and Sample

 

Check out our store for CDs, music compilations and packs

Music Shop

Contact Fanshawe Music (Library Production Music also available)

Music Licencing

Spitfire Audio Production Sampling for the creative industry

Orbis
 

Tributes

“A unique uncompromising and comprehensive collection, recorded over 25 years, from the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific and South East Asia.”
The Independent

“Ke Akua pu ne ‘oe, aloha ’oe David”…It has been a delight to follow David’s creative energy, work and his great contribution to the world -preserving and documenting Pacific Island Music.”
Prof Willis Moore, Hawaii Geographic Society

”His Pacific music collection is a great legacy; ... he was out there, very often alone, tracking down the last members of a tribe or village who knew the old songs and rituals.”
Lucky Country Productions, Musical Mariner

“David’s world of music and adventure, travelling back in time, looks through a window to a different world. The quality of his recording is extraordinary.”
Paul Thomson, Spitfire Audio, ORBIS

“I met with him in Honolulu back in 1982 one of his trips to the Pacific Islands. I was editor of Pacific Magazine at the time, and was very impressed with his knowledge, enthusiasm, and the professional recording equipment he was using to document and preserve music from throughout the Pacific. That library of recordings is of the highest quality and an invaluable contribution to the Pacific Islands region. He has left us a lasting memory of the islands. Aloha.”
Greg Knudson Pacific Islands Magazine

“I met David only a few times, in the 80s, but was hugely impressed by his energy, enthusiasm, and the work he was doing at that time in the Pacific. .. his recordings were dynamic, always interesting, and that he was out there doing it, mostly in very difficult circumstances.”
Martin Wesley-Smith

“[Our] catalogue is so much richer for David's field recordings from Africa and Polynesia. In a world of rapid change much of this music has disappeared and could not be recorded today. So his contribution to preserving so much fine music for posterity is inestimable.”
Saydisc Records