David Fanshawe

David Arthur Fanshawe (19 April 1942 – 5 July 2010) was an English composer and self-styled explorer with a fervent interest in world music. His best-known composition is the 1972 choral work African Sanctus.

Life Fanshawe was born in Paignton, Devon in 1942. His father was an officer in the Royal Artillery who played a central role in the planning of D-Day. His father's stories of military service in India fired Fanshawe's enthusiasm for travel and adventure. His first ambition was to be an explorer, but when he attended St George's School, Windsor Castle and Stowe School he discovered a love of music. His severe dyslexia, however, prevented him from reading a musical score and becoming a chorister. including films such as Tarka the Otter (1979) and Dirty Weekend (1993), and TV productions such as the BBC's Softly, Softly: Taskforce and When the Boat Comes In and also ITV's The Feathered Serpent, Flambards and The Good Companions. His ethnic field recordings have featured in countless TV documentaries, including Musical Mariner and Tropical Beat, as well as various feature films including Mountains of the Moon, How to Make an American Quilt, Seven Years in Tibet and Gangs of New York.

During a ten-year odyssey across the islands of the Pacific Ocean begun in 1978, Fanshawe collected several thousand hours of indigenous music, and documented the music and oral traditions of Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia in journals and photographs. These pieces form the core of his collection, an archive of approximately 2,000 hours of ethnic music and 60,000 images. Pacific Song, a movement based on this material, premiered in Miami in 2007. This was the first completed section of Pacific Odyssey, a new choral work which Fanshawe conceived on a grander scale than African Sanctus. He did not complete the work by the time of his death.

Fanshawe detailed his plans for Pacific Odyssey in an interview with Rory Johnston on Music Now on the BBC World Service, 15 January 1986. An extended version of this including Fanshawe’s recordings and a movement of an intermezzo is on You Tube. Johnston also recorded a discussion in depth with Fanshawe about his life and work, approaching two and a half hours. This is in Johnston’s possession.

The University of the West of England awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Music to Fanshawe in 2007 for his pursuit of musical excellence and for introducing music into lives of people who could neither read nor write music. Fanshawe also earned a Churchill Fellowship and a nomination for an Ivor Novello Award for the recording of African Sanctus.

Selected works

African Sanctus, a work for soprano, alto, tenor and bass choir, soloists, percussion and tapes from which "The Lord's Prayer" is also performed separately Spirit of African Sanctus (source tapes from above) Softly, Softly: Task Force - television theme The Feathered Serpent – television score When the Boat Comes In – television score Flambards – television score The Good Companions - television score Tarka the Otter - film score Dirty Weekend - film score Dona Nobis Pacem – A Hymn for World Peace Dover Castle Requiem for the Children of Aberfan The Awakening for cello or viola and piano Planet Earth – Fanfare and March Serenata Pacific Song – Chants from the Kingdom of Tonga Musical Mariner: Pacific Journey (from the PBS Television series Adventure)