The Early Music Legend

Wednesday, 11 February 2015 Genre:  Education / Music/Source Curious British Telly Channel:  BBC2 Transmission:  17/05/1976 - 14/06/1976 Believe it or not, but there was actually a time when Curious British Telly's life  wasn't  consumed entirely by archive television. It was merely a passion which would briefly manifest itself when we watched old episodes of  Dr Who  and tried to remember that children's tv show about the artistic dog. You see, our obsession before this glorious folly was... MUSIC! We'd attend gigs regularly, bought NME every single week for 9 years and even started a few fan sites on Geocities. The passion for us, fuelled by our teenage desire to be hip and cool, gradually faded, but for the people involved in  Ancestral Voices  music was a way of life. Melodies from the Past With an amazing title that sounds like the greatest Led Zeppelin album never recorded,  Ancestral Voices  was the BBC's attemp...

Back in 1986 I attended the Open Exhibition on "Musical Instruments" featuring the David Munrow Collection. Ofcourse, he had a very large collection of instruments, and those displayed were catalogued in a special brochure for the occasion. Unfortunately, I do not have a copy of it. Among other things including two, or more rare photos of Munrow there was a bar area where Ancestral Voices was being played on a television. Ancestral Voices was his last recorded public appearance as a tv presenter discussing old musical instruments. Not long after its completion Munrow took his own life. RS Crafts Council   The 2nd Crafts Council Open Exhibition "Musical Instruments" featuring the collection of David Munrow 1942-1976. London Crafts Council 1986 Soft cover Very Good Brochure 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall 4th June - 31st August 1986. Brochure for the exhibition containing essays on "A Decade of Historical Instrument Making 1976-1986" by Ia...

        There are three  links to British Film Institute  material on David Murnow which may be of interest. I believe films/programmes can be downloaded for viewing if one is a member of BFI. I am not fully sure of the details............Anyway, the links.......... http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/769042     david munrow memorial programme http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/9453   ancestral voices programmes http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/4216     early musical instruments I also discovered entries relating to Music in the Round but not the Munrow entry. Robert Searle

Rohan Kriwaczek son of the Paul Kriwaczek who produced Ancestral Voices revealed this interesting memory on the internet. From A Few Childhood Memories Rohan Rriwaczek-Composer,Writer,Musician. One of my earliest memories dates back to 1974 (or more accurately 1976...), when I was five. My father, a television director at the time, was making a TV series on ancient music, with David Munrow, and for two weeks the front room of our Golders Green house was filled with copies of ancient instruments, working props for the show. Of course I wasn’t allowed in there, but at weekends, when he was home, he would take me in there and demonstrate the instruments. To me it was like entering a treasure cave, full of fantastical looking objects, of gigantic proportions (to a five year old). I particularly remember the ancient Egyptian harp, modelled on pictures found in tombs. I have spent much of my life trying to recreate this room, and my obsession with ethnic instruments I am sure started ...