Delia Derbyshire

Petition to the BBC to release Delia Derbyshire’s music

Delia Derbyshire

Amazing that Delia Derbyshire’s music has been hidden away for so long…her work has had the odd compilation appearance but unlike the others in the Radiophonic Workshop she’s never had officially an album of her own, a box set or ‘best of’ of her massive back catalogue.

She’s arguably the most famous Radiophonic workshop via her theme for Doctor Who. Her legacy is indeed mouldering away, with only a very select few, such as academics and those who made a career out of keeping her music quiet, allowed to hear it. Very sad….

I’m also disappointed with University of Manchester, who after all that fanfare mostly sat on the tapes and provided the minimum academic-only public access to them. No online archive, no way of listening unless you physically go to their faculty in the outskirts of Manchester where I’ve heard they might let you listen to their laptop (!!!) while chaperoned by a member of staff? But I see a few (faculty?) DJing these works at electronic music & arts festivals including ones abroad? This does not sound like ‘public access’ to me – and seems like more feathering of people’s nests by keeping her work under wraps.

If Trunk Records can manage it with two volumes of John Baker’s work, David Cain’s albums can be re-released, even Daphne Oram got props recently – so why not Delia? So hence this petition to the BBC to release her work ending on what would have been her 77th birthday. Please sign it. If you don’t know about Delia, then a good place to start is my Radiophonic at 50 podcast or Soundhog’s Delian mix. I’ve been planning a special Delia D podcast for digital debris for years…

Comments

18 responses to “Petition to the BBC to release Delia Derbyshire’s music”

  1. chris duerr avatar
    chris duerr

    Please release Delia Derbyshire’s music!
    Thank you

  2. Nabil Jacob avatar
    Nabil Jacob

    please release Delia Derbyshire

  3. Andy little avatar
    Andy little

    Didnt the public pay for this anyway with the tv license its not yours to hid away.

  4. Ian Green avatar
    Ian Green

    A serious collection and re-evaluation of Delia’s music is way overdue – it would also save enthusiasts poking about for compilations to find something other than the original Doctor Who Theme (brilliant though that is).
    The vast body of her work really needs to laid out to appreciate her creativity and style.

    …..and she’s also from my hometown !

  5. Nick the Record avatar

    I’ll buy this record

  6. M avatar
    M

    release it, please!

  7. Franziska Koch avatar
    Franziska Koch

    Please release Delia Derbyshire’s music. Thank you!

  8. Siobhan Mckeown avatar

    Yes, please honor Delia’s contribution to electronic music by giving us public access to it!

  9. Fred Giannelli avatar

    a/k/a the Kooky Scientist

    Nothing her now but the recordings…

  10. Chris Pratt avatar
    Chris Pratt

    Why does this even need to be petitioned? Let us hear it! As someone has already pointed out, we (my Mum, Dad, Grandparents) funded it anyway. If not let me have a few hours with Daphne Oram’s Oramics synth instead or a go on the CS-80 listeners bought for the workshop!

  11. Kenneally1 avatar
    Kenneally1

    Please release 🙂

  12. Robert Saint John avatar
    Robert Saint John

    I never “sign” online petitions. I’ll “sign” this one. Please release this!

  13. Owen Vaughan-Prosser avatar
    Owen Vaughan-Prosser

    Long, long overdue. Wonderful character – was lucky enough to meet her.

    1. Tim B avatar

      I am so, so, so, SO jealous! I’d loved to have met her.

  14. TheProf avatar
    TheProf

    Not only a zillion years ahead of the sonic game…..WHAT A FOX!!!! release the music muthaluvva’s……

    On BBC website there is a 50 second segment of a delia ‘dance’ track, which sounds not too dissimiliar to an early Human League Mk1 snippet, or even AFX…..

    1. Tim B avatar

      Yes Dance With Noah – I used several versions of that on my digital debris mix: https://www.digitaldebris.org.uk/archives/2013/11/02/4-numbers-for-delia/

  15. marqu avatar
    marqu

    Please Release the music, the world needs to hear the creations of a legend.
    Delia Derbyshire deserves it.

  16. Matt avatar
    Matt

    Instead of begging in the comments here, sign the petition that is linked to above!

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