Delia Derbyshire: Last News

Jon Burlingame editorAs the Marvel Cinematic Universe has expanded into television, its musical reach has also grown, embracing diversity both in terms of its composers and the music they make.English composer Natalie Holt (pictured above) brought unexpected sonorities to “Loki”; Cairo-based Hesham Nazih added specific Egyptian sounds to “Moon Knight”; and American composer Laura Karpman employed a traditional orchestra and choir on the animated “What If…?”“Loki is sort of a likable baddie,” says Holt, “a grand, Machiavellian, Shakespearean character, so I wanted some kind of gravitas, classical weight, to his theme.”Yet, in last summer’s six-part series, the Norse god of mischief (Tom Hiddleston) is also playing with time, which suggested more unusual sounds: the wailing of a theremin and its equally eerie French cousin, the ondes Martenot. “I’d been listening to [Lithuanian theremin virtuoso] Clara Rockmore and [BBC Radiophonic Workshop pioneer] Delia Derbyshire,” Holt explains.

Delia Derbyshire, will coincide with International Women’s Day 2022.Deliaphonic, which is now in its fourth year, returns to Coventry on March 3-6 for four days of screenings, music performances, Q&As, visual arts exhibitions and more.The festival will fall shortly before International Women’s Day on March 8. Events will take place at Coventry Cathedral and The Tin Music and Arts.Derbyshire, who was from Coventry, was one of electronic music’s early female pioneers.

becomes an archive-only channel, as is planned. I cannot imagine anything so wilfully arty sitting on a more mainstream channel.