Search - Basil Kirchin :: Quantum: A journey through sound in two parts

The son of band-leader Ivor Kirchin, Basil Kirchin learned to play drums at a young age, and in 1941, he joined his father's band. He later had spells with Harry Roy and His New 1946 Orchestra and the Ted Heath Band. In the early '50s, Basil and his father formed The Kirchin band. This band would eventually become very successful and the subject of a bidding war between Decca and Parlophone. Parlophone would eventually sign the band, and the Kirchins began recording under the watchful eye of the future Beatles' producer George Martin. The band's fame was so great that Sarah Vaughan and Billy Eckstine would only tour Britain with the Kirchin band.

At the end of the '50s he hit the road, first to India and then eventually to Australia, where he directed the Pigalle in Sydney. Returning to Britain in 1961, he began a career in writing film scores, including The Abominable Dr. Phibes.

Kirchin came up with a new concept in 1964, which he called "World Within Worlds". Having obtained Arts Council funding in 1967, he bought a "Nagra" tape machine in order to record the sounds that he "found". These sounds would then be distorted before being superposed on the recorded sounds of artists such as Evan Parker and Derek Bailey. Unlike most musique concrète composers, Kirchin sounds were usually taken from animals or people, including the autistic children of Schurmatt, Switzerland. In the early '70s, he recorded two albums, both titled Worlds Within Worlds. The release of the first record was botched and the second one had all traces of the autistic children removed. In order to restart the whole project, Kirchin moved to Switzerland and took on more filmwork. He would later moved to Hornsea, east Yorkshire, where he continued recording. Beginning in 2003, a series of unreleased work began to emerge. Basil Kirchin died from cancer in 2005, aged 77.