CHIRP: The Chicago Independent Radio Project

Dustin Drase writes

Lost tapes of Delia Derbyshire

The BBC reports that a cache of 267 tapes of unheard recordings by the late Delia Derbyshire has been found and work is underway to digitize the collection. Derbyshire, most famous for her work on the theme song to the Sci Fi cult classic Dr. Who, worked at the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop during the early 60s and was a pioneer in the field of electronic music.

Many of these recordings contain manipulated samples of Derbyshire’s voice, found sounds and home made instruments. One track in particular, is an exceptionally early example of what can be considered a modern dance track.

David Butler, of Manchester University’s School of Arts, Histories and Cultures is working to record the collection.

“The next thing that we want to do is make the archive available to everyone who wants to hear it,” he says. “But also this has to be a living, breathing archive so we are going to commission new works as well.