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 "I was approached by Pilot's musical director Neville
Farmer in 1994 while I was performing with my ambient
group Shen. He explained that he was the musical director
for a new series called Lonely Planet (later to become
Pilot Guides), based on the eponymous travel books
and Neville asked me to submit some of my music for the soundtrack
of the show. I composed and recorded a couple of pieces in
an ambient and trance style which were very enthusiastically
received by the series producer Ian Cross. A week later,
after remixing, one of the pieces became the “Lonely
Planet Theme”. The other track was later used as
part of the soundtrack to the show filmed in Brazil.
As I worked on more shows in the first series I realised
that the location recordings brought back by the production
teams were a very useful resource. They were invaluable in
providing material that conjured up the spirit of the destination.
The Saga singing from Norway, the Valiha from Madagascar and
the Russian Orthodox Priest from Russia all provided me with
fantastic material to base the music on. I incorporated this
basic ethnic material with beats, bass lines, chords and melodies
composed by myself. In many cases this crossing of western
dance based grooves with indigenous music from the travel
destination produced the most satisfying compositions of the
show. Some of my favourites from the series include Aeolian
Pipes and the Travel Theme from Ireland and the Violin Song
I composed for the Russia show.
This mixing of musical styles continues to be the template
for creating much of the music for the Pilot Guides series,
regardless of the composer."
ABOUT IAN RITCHIE
A saxophonist on many recording sessions and album producer
of Roger Waters' Radio Kaos, Laurie Anderson's
Strange Angels and others, Ian Ritchie has become a leading
exponent of ambient music. His production of Jay Stapley's
Ambient Blues is now on release and he is working on his own
ambient jazz album.
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