Sir David Attenborough wants you to remix his 70 year old Indonesian recording
Legendary naturalist and beloved documentary maker David Attenborough is calling on producers to trance-ify his old field recordings.
You’re never too old to get on the EDM scene, as Sir David Attenborough is proving at 93 with his call to arms of electronic producers. Sir David has shared a field recording of sacred gamelan music in Bali that he made 70 years ago in the hopes that it will be remixed.
The 3 minute recording of traditional instruments was recorded during a search for a Komodo Dragon for his BBC TV series Zoo Quest, broadcast in 1954. Sir David hopes that an electronic remix of the incredible sounds will introduce the traditional music to a new generation of ears.
He recollects: “The villagers play this concerted music with extraordinary music with extraordinary precision and real zest. So it is haunting music that you hear every night – or you did in those days, in the villages of Bali.”
The man, who has brought a love of nature to people around the world of all generations and raised awareness of the wild world we live amongst, would often take a portable tape recorder to capture the sounds of local communities and music he came across on his travels.
Speaking to Songlines magazine last year, Sir David said: “Back in the 1960s, there were still parts of the world where European music had not been heard. The traditions that had been developed over centuries were still continued with no knowledge of Western styles of music, which since then have enveloped the world.
“So these sounds which I captured with that clumsy tape recorder 60 years ago have a quality that you wouldn’t be able to replicate today.”
The entries will be judged with the help of a panel including Mercury Prize nominee GhostPoet and BBC Radio 6 Music presenter Cerys Matthews. They will decide on 6 final entries which will be put to the public for a final choice.
Listen to the recording below and if you want to have a crack at the Remix Competition then head to the Songlines website: www.songlines.co.uk/news/songlines-and-prs-foundation-announce-new-remix-competition