David Lewiston, A World-Spanning 'Musical Tourist' Who Brought Old Sounds To New Ears

David Lewiston, a seminal producer of music from around the world has died. The force behind more than two dozen recordings for the Nonesuch Explorer series, Lewiston died May 29 in Wailuku, Hawaii, at age 88, from what the Nonesuch label has described as an "extended illness"; his longtime friend and colleague, Brian Cullman, told the New York Times that his death resulted from "complications of a series of strokes."

Cullman wrote about Lewiston's treks in a remembrance for Nonesuch:

"Sometimes by bus; sometimes by jeep or truck or caravanserai; sometimes by donkey, though not if he could help it; and almost always on foot, it always came to that, by foot across rickety bridges and footpaths, up the sides small—portable tape recorder; twenty or thirty reels of 1/4" tape; a couple of microphones; cables; a week's supply of batteries; a few packs of Fortnum & Mason tea, and a few spare shirts."