Harry Williamson

For the American runner, see Harry Williamson (athlete).

Harry Williamson (born May 12, 1950) is a British musician, producer and inventor.

Williamson was born in Ilfracombe, North Devon, the son of noted author Henry Williamson and his second wife Christine Duffield. He is divorced, with one daughter, Bee Williamson. He was educated at Exeter Cathedral School under Lionel Dakers (later head of RSCM), and at Millfield School, Street, Somerset.

He started a Physics degree at Imperial College, University of London, but abandoned Physics for Rock Theater, working at Glastonbury Festival and the Rainbow Theater and crewing for The Rolling Stones in the 1970s. He helped establish the Green Party of England and Wales and is still actively involved in designing innovative energy efficient systems.

In 1970 he met Anthony Phillips of Genesis with whom he composed music for the film of his father's bestseller Tarka the Otter. The music, recorded by the National Philharmonic Orchestra was not used in the film due to budgetary considerations but some years later was finished with funds from Amy International and released by PRT, where it became #1 in the New Music Charts for three months. It is still regarded as a classic by Genesis fans and excerpts are used for documentaries and other nature oriented films worldwide. Another series of recordings with Anthony started in 1976 became 'Gypsy Suite', released 1998.

In 1977 Harry was playing with Nik Turner of Hawkwind and he wrote 'Nuclear Waste' which was recorded by The Radio Actors, with Sting on vocals, Mike Howlett on Bass and Steve Hillage on lead guitar. It was released by Virgin Records and later by Charly and is still considered an anti-nuclear anthem in Eastern Europe.

In 1978 Harry met Gilli Smyth, formerly of (Gong). They formed Mother Gong, made their first album[1] and toured the United States for the first time as part of the ZU Manifestival promoted by Georgio Gomelski. Returning to Devon, they lived at Ox's Cross and Harry set up his first studio in the building his father had used for writing. They played the Glastonbury Festival twice and after much disillusionment with Thatcherist politics, left England in 1982 and emigrated to Melbourne, Australia. They divorced in 1992. Harry now is an Australian citizen and dedicates his time to composing film, world, and many other styles of music, making concert DVDs, producing recordings from artists around the world and implementing his environmentally-sustainable house designs. With his former partner Liz Van Dort he experimented with ambient and world music and released an album under the banner 'Faraway'. In 2004 with his partner Maribel Steel he completed a musical 'Lace' which deals with life, death romance and despair in a Spanish family, and a soundtrack for the film - Rokkashomura Rhapsody a Japanese documentary on nuclear reprocessing in Rokkasho, Aomori

'Tarka' was commissioned to launch the book 'Our Watermark' published by the Victorian Women's Trust and received its first live performances in Melbourne in 2010, to great acclaim.

'Migration' was finally launched in 2012 after a ten-year gestation. It explores the musical forms that originated in Northern India and traveled with the celts on their epic migrations, influencing music everywhere they settled.

In 2009 he was asked to bring the Federation Bells near Federation Square, Melbourne, a carillon of 39 upturned bells designed for the centenary of Australian Federation, into better working order. In 2011 his company was awarded the contract to completely refurbish this iconic installation. He designed novel actuators and with his collaborator Ian Wilson, a sophisticated controller that mimics human articulation, which now provide visitors with a unique interactive experience, including an app for playing the bells live. There are now annual composition competitions and over 1000 original pieces are played in rotation, three times daily.

Football fans used to regularly take out their disappointment at losing, on this installation. Harry instigated the idea of playing team's anthems before and after the matches at the MCG and since then there has been a marked decline in vandalism.

In 2015 Harry completed a prototype codenamed 'Wind Whisperer' for a wind driven self tuning interactive stringed sculptural instrument that plays fractal melodies, continuously changing in response to microscopic changes in the surroundings. Now exploring interest in a museum installation.

Discography

Notes

  1. ↑ Strong, Martin Charles (2002). The Great Rock Discography. The National Academies. pp. 896–897. ISBN 978-1-84195-312-0. Retrieved 14 February 2011.

References

External links

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