Obituary: David Fanshawe

Born: 19 April, 1941 in Devon.

Died: 5 July, 2010, in Wiltshire, aged 68.

David Fanshawe, composer of the evocative African Sanctus that mesmerisingly brought together European church music and the steamy hot rhythms of African tribes, was also a successful composer of much music for television.

At his death, Fanshawe was completing Pacific Odyssey, which he had developed from a song cycle he had premiered at Miami in 2007. Fanshawe had conceived Pacific Odyssey on a similarly grand scale to African Sanctus and there were plans to give its first performance in the Sydney Opera House.

Fanshawe travelled widely but was undoubtedly best known for his dramatic oratorio African Sanctus, which was a best seller in the 1970s. He was devoted to preserving the traditions of Africa and the way of life he had seen on his first visits there in the late 1960s. His trip through Africa inspired Fanshawe to record much of the tribal music with which he came into contact. He returned from his travels there in 1972 with several hundred hours of recordings which he had made live in the bush. Fanshawe delighted in stating on his visiting card, "composer and explorer".

David Fanshawe was the son of an army officer who was much involved in the planning of D-Day. His love of music was enhanced when he attended St George's Choir School and Stowe. A friend's mother recognised his musical talent and gave him piano lessons and in 1965 Fanshawe won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London.

His first composition, in 1970, Salaams was well received on its performance at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall..

His ambition to record indigenous folk music began in the Middle East, and was intensified on subsequent journeys through North and East Africa (1969-75) resulting in his unique and highly original blend of traditional and tribal music.

In Africa he documented hundreds of tribes, achieving such a close rapport with local communities that they gave him special permission to record their performances. He began his 1969 voyage by sailing up the Nile. He then travelled through Egypt, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya ending his journey on the shores of Lake Victoria, having travelled on foot, donkey, camel, canoe and (occasionally) boat.

One item Fanshawe always had at the ready was a small stereo tape recorder on which he recorded local musicians and their age-old music..

In Uganda, Idi Amin had just come to power and Fanshawe recorded traditional music and dance before the tribes were massacred.

He faced awful deprivations himself - harassment and threats of imprisonment were common - and once his life was saved by a five-year-old child who calmly decapitated a black samba snake as it was about to strike.

African Sanctus was first performed at St John's Smith Square in London in 1972 and a disc soon followed.

Such was its success that the BBC commissioned Fanshawe to retrace his journey for a documentary for Omnibus. To Fanshawe's disappointment, the production team was not always able to track down the same tribes, but the programme was shown on Easter Day 1975, won the Prix Italia and became a best seller.

African Sanctus has been performed all over the world with particularly evocative performances by the South African Youth Choir in Stellenbosch and at the Festival of Remembrance in front of the Queen at the Royal Albert Hall.

While Fanshawe concentrated on composing music based on non-European ideas, he was often commissioned to write for film and television. His 50-plus scores for those media included Tarka the Otter, When The Boat Comes In and Flambards. His recordings feature on films such as Seven Years in Tibet and Gangs of New York.

His love of exotic travel never deserted him. He spent some years in Fiji and Australia further adding to his library of recorded sound. This has now become the Fanshawe Collection and comprises 2,000 hours of recorded music.

Fanshawe was often asked which came first: composition of travel. "All I can say is that as a composer, without my travels, I would have nothing original to say," he once said.

Fanshawe retained his independence and never fitted neatly into the musical scene in Europe. He remained an original and exciting composer who broke boundaries. He firmly believed music could be an instrument of world peace.

In his personal life Fanshawe was equally different. He always wore what he called his spirit cap, given to him in Africa by a tribal chief. When signing autographs, he would sketch himself sitting on a camel wearing the cap and write: "I love the world".

Fanshawe is survived by his second wife Jane, whom he married in 1985, and by their daughter and a son from an earlier marriage.