…english version below…
Ég hef lengi verið veikur fyrir mjög gamalli raftónlist, tónlist sem var búin til löngu áður en menn gátu farið að nota tölvur, samplera eða eitthvað svoleiðis dót. Margt af þessari tónlist var gerð af hálf-brjáluðum köllum sem smíðuðu sín eigin hljóðfæri, t.d. Raymond Scott og Bruce Haack, og er mikið af þessari músík endalaust skemmtileg. Árið 1958 var stofnuð deild innan BBC í Bretlandi sem hlaut nafnið Radiophonic Workshop og átti að búa til hljóðeffekta og tónlist fyrir þætti. Ein þeirra sem vann hjá BBC Radiphonic Workshop var Delia Derbyshire og er hún með merkilegri frumkvöðlum raftónlistarinnar. Hérna eru tvö lög af plötunni Music From The BBC Radiophonic Workshop sem er nokkuð skemmtilegt safn. Svo henti ég inn einu myndbandi af Deliu við störf – stórmerkilegt!
Delia Derbyshire – Door To Door
Delia Derbyshire – Ziwzih Ziwzih 00-00-00
Þekktasta hljóðdæmið úr smiðju BBC Radiophonic Workshop er líklega þema lag hinna ofur hallærislegu Doctor Who þátta – en lagið sjálft er reyndar alveg óendanlega töff. Lagið sjálft var upphaflega samið af Ron Grainer en það var Delia Derbyshire sem sá um að búa það til með hinum ýmsu frumstæðu tækjum árið 1963. Sagan segir reyndar að Grainer hafi verið svo hrifinn af framkvæmdinni að hann hafi reynt að fá Deliu skrifaða sem meðhöfund sinn en skrifstofubálknið hjá BBC hafi komið í veg fyrir það.
BBC Radiophonic Workshop – Doctor Who
Eina platan sem kom út undir nafni Deliu Derbyshire var hljómplatan Electro Sonic árið 1972. Fyrir tveim árum kom svo út platan The Tomorrow People með tónlist úr samnefndum sjónvarpsþáttum og er hún skrifuð á Deliu Derbyshire, Dudley Simpson, Brian Hodgson og David Vorhaus. Tékkum á þessu:
Delia Derbyshire – The Wizards Laboratory (af Electro Sonic)
Delia Derbyshire, Dudley Simpson, Brian Hodgson & David Vorhaus – The Tomorrow People Theme (af The Tomorrow People)
Eitt lítið skref tók Delia í átt til rokktónlistar þegar hún stofnaði hljómsveitina White Noise ásamt David Vorhaus og Brian Hodgson árið 1969 og gerði plötuna An Electric Storm. Þau sáu um rafhliðina í bandinu og svo kom trommari og nokkrir söngvarar við sögu á plötunni. An Electric Storm þykir mér ein merkasta plata raf-sækaelíunnar og er ein af þessum fjölmörgu gleymdu snilldarplötum. Eftir útgáfuna An Electric Storm varð Vorhaus einn eftir í White Noise og seinni skífur sveitarinnar ku hljóma allt öðruvísi.
White Noise – Love Without Sound
White Noise – Your Hidden Dreams
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I have always had a soft spot for very old electronic music, made long before computers, samplers and those kinds of gadgets were used for music production. A lot of this music was made by half-crazy people who built their own electronic instruments, e.g. Raymond Scott and Bruce Haack, and much of this music is absolutely great. In 1958 the BBC started a division called the Radiophonic Workshop for making sound effects and music for programs. One of the people working for the BBC Radiphonic Workshop was a woman called Delia Derbyshire and she is one of the greatest inventors of electronic music. Here are two songs from the album Music From The BBC Radiophonic Workshop which is quite fun collection. Then I found this video of Delia working – marvelous!
Delia Derbyshire – Door To Door
Delia Derbyshire – Ziwzih Ziwzih 00-00-00
The most famous song from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop is probably the theme for the super cheesy Doctor Who program – but the song itself is endlessly cool. The song was originally written by Ron Grainer but it was Delia Derbyshire who made it into an electronic masterpiece with her primitive gadgets in 1963. Grainer was so amazed by her work that he tried to get her a co-songwriting credit for the song but it was prevented by the BBC bureaucracy.
BBC Radiophonic Workshop – Doctor Who
The only album to be released under the credit of Delia Derbyshire was Electro Sonic in 1972. Two years ago the soundtrack for the tv series The Tomorrow People was released and it’s credited to Delia Derbyshire, Dudley Simpson, Brian Hodgson and David Vorhaus. Let’s check this out:
Delia Derbyshire – The Wizards Laboratory (from Electro Sonic)
Delia Derbyshire, Dudley Simpson, Brian Hodgson & David Vorhaus – The Tomorrow People Theme (from The Tomorrow People)
Delia took one small step into rock music when she formed the band White Noise with David Vorhaus and Brian Hodgson in 1969 and the released the album An Electric Storm. They did the electronic things in the band and got a drummer and a few singers to make the album with them. I think An Electric Storm is one of the greatest album of the electronic psychedelia and is one of the many forgotten great albums. Soon after the release of An Electric Storm Vorhaus became the only member of White Noise and later albums from the band supposedly sound quite different.
White Noise – Love Without Sound
White Noise – Your Hidden Dreams
