THE AFRICAN MUSIC PROJECT BY HUGH TRACEY

"For many years it has been felt that one of the more important advances in African cultural affairs would be to codify the logic which lies behind the creation of indigenous styles of music and thus to bring it naturally, without prejudice, into the realm of African education… … The rewards which will accrue to African's everywhere, to their delight, their social pride and national heritage, outstrip those of almost any other branch of cultural study, especially in these days of mechanical entertainment through records and radio with their inevitable challenge to the continuity of neglected national art forms."

"Folk musics are handed on from father to son, from musician to musician. Folk music is always alive in the minds of the people, for if it was forgotten, it would never be heard again. It would die and become spirit like our ancestors."

"We do not study in order to hold fast the past and hold back the future, but rather to sharpen those tools and with them find new satisfaction for the future." WE ARE "…to bring the whole subject into its true perspective both as an academic study and as a dynamic contribution to African social good everywhere."

"The recording instrument may become the best worker in the service of our music if we use it properly to record all the African material available now, within the next few years, so that the bush will not grow across our paths and cut us off from our ancestral minstrels."

"It may well be that local folk music is one of Africa's most important social assets.

"Local government support is not expected to be in the form of finance, but might well include the provision of rent-free quarters, local transport and the loan of interpreters for each language group under survey."

"The old knowledge of the minstrels, the new knowledge of the scientists careful thought and continued energy must all go towards the making of our instruments if we want our best musical results. There are no instruments that can compare with African instruments in Price."

Hugh Tracey was born in 1903 in England. His father was a country doctor and preacher. He came to Southern Rhodesia to join his brother an ex serviceman in the second world war. He was near Mashingo and he loved Karanga which he spoke fluently. While learning the language he learnt the songs and drumming on the farm. Immediately he found that nobody found it interesting. He was going against the grain.

He published his first book 'songs from the Kraals'. He left Zimbabwe and joined the SABC in Durban. After two years he became the director of Durban studio and was there throughout the war. He introduced the first Zulu and Indian programming on SABC. His aim was to reveal what was in Africa. He wanted let people know the Africans had a valid culture. After the war he went to Johannesburg and received help from Gallo to go into research full time between 1947 and 1954. He founded ILAM. Hugh Tracey made over 3000 recordings and collected over 400 musical instruments. He was known as magadagada, like a sewing machine that never stopped. He achieved to put African music on the map. His last recording was in the early 1970's and was the record of Princess Constance Magogo.