| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| HTA ID | HTA-0364 |
| Title | African Sanctus — David Fanshawe |
| Date | ~1978–1981 |
| Date Confidence | Moderate (African Sanctus premiered 1972; BBC documentary mid-1970s; PM Magazine sign-off "We'll be right back") |
| Program | PM Magazine (or possibly Eyewitness News) |
| Station | WDVM or WTOP-TV Channel 9, Washington DC |
| Duration | ~7.5 minutes |
| Format | Arts/music profile |
Henry profiles David Fanshawe, a British composer and self-proclaimed "explorer and eccentric" who journeyed 2,000 miles over five years through Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania recording African music with a portable recorder and microphone. Fanshawe combined his field recordings with Western choral music to create "African Sanctus," a musical work celebrating both traditions. The piece uses footage from a BBC documentary chronicling Fanshawe's musical safari. Fanshawe describes surviving plane crashes, snake attacks, diseases, and self-doubt during his five-year journey. He speaks of finding God on a mountaintop called Paradise in West Sudan, where four men praying inspired the composition's central theme. The piece concludes with Fanshawe's declaration of universal faith: "I believe in God. Christian, Islamic, Buddha, you name it."
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| People | David Fanshawe (British composer, explorer) |
| Organizations | BBC, PM Magazine or WTOP-TV |
| Locations | Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania; Jebel Mara (Mountains of Paradise), West Sudan |
| Subjects | Music composition, African culture, exploration, cultural preservation |
| Themes | The sacred in music, cultural preservation, obsessive artistic vision, East-West synthesis, faith |
| Keywords | David Fanshawe, African Sanctus, BBC, Africa, music, field recording, choral music, Luo tribe |
| Career Period | PM Magazine or late WTOP era |
"Some have journeyed through Africa for wealth, for fame, for adventure, wild game trophies. David Fanshawe journeyed 2,000 miles over five years in search of music."
"Why do I set myself this awful, horrible task? And why can't I just be normal, like everybody else? But then we're not all normal."
"I am a doer. I keep having to say to myself, I will do this. I will record the music of Africa. I will compose this. I will write my book."
"I believe in God. Christian, Islamic, Buddha, you name it. I believe in it."
"Music that's rapidly disappearing for a number of reasons. Progress, the speed of Western values and influences, call it what you will."
This is one of Henry's most ambitious arts pieces — a profile of an artist whose work spans continents, cultures, and years. The opening line is beautifully constructed: the parallel structure ("for wealth, for fame, for adventure") sets up the surprise of Fanshawe's purpose ("in search of music"). Henry lets the BBC documentary footage and Fanshawe's own passionate testimony carry the piece, providing narrative bridges and cultural context.
The piece has an unusual spiritual dimension. Fanshawe's mountaintop experience — hearing music in his head while watching men pray — is presented without irony or skepticism. Henry allows the piece to become genuinely transcendent, which is rare in his archive. The closing declaration of universal faith ("Christian, Islamic, Buddha, you name it") is left to stand without commentary, suggesting Henry found it as moving as the audience likely does.
The cultural preservation theme — African music "rapidly disappearing" due to Western influence — gives the piece urgency beyond mere arts appreciation. Fanshawe is presented as both artist and archivist, racing against cultural extinction.
| Type | Reference |
|---|---|
| Theme | Music/arts — connects to Aaron Copland (HTA-0348), Springsteen (HTA-0338) |
| Theme | Obsessive artistic vision — connects to The Last Bible (HTA-0343) |
| Theme | Cultural preservation — connects to Chinese Portrait Artist (HTA-0360) |
| Tone | Spiritual/transcendent — unusual in Henry's archive |
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Source File | Afriucan Sanctus .txt (note: filename misspelling of "African") |
| Alternate Files | None identified |
| Source Location | /transcript macwhisper/ (root folder) |
| Transcription Quality | Good (some musical passages untranscribable) |
| Repository Status | Preserved in Source Repository |
David Fanshawe (1942–2010) was a British composer and explorer who spent years recording indigenous music across Africa and the Pacific. African Sanctus, premiered in 1972 at a Proms concert in London, combined his field recordings of Islamic calls to prayer, tribal dances, and work songs with a Western Mass setting for chorus and percussion. It became one of the most popular choral works of the late 20th century. The BBC documentary referenced in this piece was likely "African Sanctus" (1975), directed by Herbert Chappell. Fanshawe's journey took place primarily between 1966 and 1975.
The Luo tribe referenced in the piece is a Nilotic ethnic group in Kenya and Tanzania. The "Jebel Mara" mountains are in Darfur, western Sudan — a region that would later become infamous for conflict. Fanshawe's recordings from this area are now among the few surviving documents of musical traditions that have since been disrupted by war.