David Fanshawe facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
David Fanshawe
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 19 April 1942 |
| Died | 5 July 2010 (aged 68) |
| Occupation | English composer, ethnomusicology, self-styled explorer |
David Arthur Fanshawe (born April 19, 1942 – died July 5, 2010) was an English composer. He was also an explorer who loved music from all over the world. His most famous work is a big musical piece called African Sanctus, which he created in 1972.
David Fanshawe's Life and Music
David Fanshawe was born in 1942 in a place called Paignton, in Devon, England. His dad was a soldier who helped plan D-Day. Stories from his dad about being in India made David want to travel and explore.
At first, David wanted to be an explorer. But when he went to St George's School, Windsor Castle and Stowe School, he found he loved music. David had dyslexia, which made it hard for him to read music. This meant he couldn't become a chorister.
At Stowe School, he spent a lot of time learning to play the piano. When he was 17, a friend's mom, a French baroness, discovered his talent. She taught him piano even after he left school in 1959.
David started his career as a musician and film editor. He worked for a small company in Wimbledon that made documentaries. In 1965, he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music. There, he studied how to compose music.
During his school breaks, he traveled a lot in Europe and the Middle East. One summer, while hitchhiking in Afghanistan, he heard Islamic music. He loved its beauty right away. He then traveled to Iraq and Bahrain, recording the traditional music he heard.
After finishing his studies in 1969, David went on a big adventure. He traveled up the Nile River from the Mediterranean Sea. He visited Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, and Kenya over three years. He finally reached Lake Victoria.
He carried a small tape recorder with him. He would ask local musicians to play their music for him. When he came back to the United Kingdom in 1972, he had hundreds of hours of recordings.
David used these recordings to create his most famous work, African Sanctus. He wrote this piece with his first wife, Judith Croasdell. It became very well-known and made him famous for his choral works.
Besides big vocal pieces, David also wrote music for films and TV shows. Some of his film scores include Tarka the Otter (1979) and Dirty Weekend (1993).
He also composed music for TV shows like the BBC's Softly, Softly: Taskforce and When the Boat Comes In. He also worked on ITV shows like The Feathered Serpent, Flambards, and The Good Companions.
His recordings of traditional music were used in many TV documentaries. These included Musical Mariner and Tropical Beat. They also appeared in movies like Mountains of the Moon and Seven Years in Tibet.
From 1978, David spent ten years traveling across the islands of the Pacific Ocean. He collected thousands of hours of local music. He also wrote journals and took photos of the music and stories of Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia.
These recordings and images are now a huge collection. It has about 2,000 hours of traditional music and 60,000 pictures. In 2007, a part of a new work called Pacific Song was performed in Miami.
This was the first finished part of Pacific Odyssey. David planned this new choral work to be even bigger than African Sanctus. However, he passed away before he could finish it.
In 2007, the University of the West of England gave David an honorary degree. This was to celebrate his amazing music and for sharing music with people who couldn't read or write it. He also won a Churchill Fellowship and was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for African Sanctus.
David married Judith Croasdell Grant in 1971. They had two children, Alexander and Rebecca. They later divorced in 1985. He then married Jane in 1985, and they had a daughter named Rachel. His younger brother, James, was a naval officer.
David lived near Ramsbury in Wiltshire, England. He died on July 5, 2010, after having a stroke.
David Fanshawe's Main Works
Here are some of David Fanshawe's important musical works:
- African Sanctus: A large piece for singers, soloists, percussion, and recorded sounds.
- A part of this, "The Lord's Prayer," is often performed by itself.
- Spirit of African Sanctus: This uses the original recordings from African Sanctus.
- Softly, Softly: Taskforce: A theme song for a TV show.
- The Feathered Serpent: Music for a TV show.
- When the Boat Comes In: Music for a TV show.
- Flambards: Music for a TV show.
- The Good Companions: Music for a TV show.
- Tarka the Otter: Music for a film.
- Dirty Weekend: Music for a film.
- Dona Nobis Pacem – A Hymn for World Peace: A song for world peace.
- Requiem for the Children of Aberfan: A sad piece for the children of Aberfan.
- Planet Earth – Fanfare and March: A grand musical piece.
- Pacific Song – Chants from the Kingdom of Tonga: Music based on chants from Tonga.
