Early Musical Instruments

Sunday, November 24, 2013


Toys and Techniques blog

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
....... The above show was called Early Musical Instruments and aired in 1976. There were 6 episodes, each involving Munrow and a group of Englishmen making a racket with a certain family of instruments - reed instruments, strummed ones, percussion, etc. Some of them are positively evil looking, such as the gemshorn, a recorder made seemingly out of satan's antlers, or various guitar-like monsters with about twenty strings and nightmarish dragon-like tuning heads. The series was filmed at the beautiful and eerie Ordsall Hall in Salford, known for the ghosts of a White Lady and young girl that have been seen in its staircases.

Munrow tragically took his own life at 33, but his legacy carries onwards and upwards -- one of his recordings was on the golden disc accompanying the Voyager spacecraft into the heavens in 1977.(edited by the blogger of The Early Music Legend)


...Also, it should be said that the production company ordered the musicians to wear an extra layer of clothing as it was very cold in Salford! Munrow's wife did not apparently see the series at the time when it was aired at the end of 1976... at 9.30 am on Sunday mornings on ITV. Apparently, she still gets some royalties from his recordings, and lives in Hyde Heath. RS/blogger.
 




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