More than 80 years ago Hugh Tracey made his first recordings of African music and earned himself a reputation as a madman who sallied into the bush with people playing drums.
That was in 1929, today his unique archives have been digitalized and used as teaching aids in two new school textbooks, realizing his life dream of preventing the music from dying out.
The International Library of African Music (ILAM) is made of up recordings on 78 rpm discs and magnetic tape. Its contents amount to a running time of six months, gathered from what is now Zimbabwe throughout southern and eastern Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Tracey collection is housed at the Rhodes University campus at Grahamstown in South Africa and is the most important archive of its sort in Africa.
The thousands of hours of music include village ensembles, royal court music, drumming, voices of great beauty; all saved from almost certain disappearance during expeditions carried out until the 1960s in scarcely imaginable circumstances.
“There was dust, there were mosquitoes that would go under the tape,” recalled Tracey’s son Andrew, who has continued his father’s pioneering work by preserving and transcribing the collection.
“He traveled around with three vehicles and used a diesel generator which was noisy and that had to be put 100 meters (yards) apart,” said Andrew Tracey, himself an ethnomusicologist and teacher.
Now 78, he has passed on the work to Diane Thram, an American who looks after the archive, entirely digitalized since this year, and the 8,000 photographs of the collection.
The public can have access to more than 260 CDs (www.ilam.ru.ac.za), classified by region, instrument, decade — among them royal music from Uganda, string ensembles from Kenya, Pygmy spiritual chants, miners’ dances, or colonial big bands to name but a few.
Hugh Tracey, who was born in 1903 and died in 1977, was a collector of genius, curious enough to record early jazz or guitar music hits in the 1950s, a decisive decade when Africa started undergoing the changes of a rapid urbanization. To listen to “Forest Music,” recorded in northern DR Congo, is to realize that the field is not only for specialists.
Tracey can be heard giving a drum lesson, an absorbing explanation in which he shows how the sharp or flat sound of the instrument echoes the language’s tonal system and makes possible communication over several kilometers (miles).
The latest products of the digitalization are two school handbooks published by the ILAM.
The first, “Understanding African Music,” is aimed at high school students and was presented at a world conference of music teachers. The second will target younger children.
Between them they form an introduction to African music, the rules and aesthetics of which are still little known, in spite of the success of World Music. “African music has never been fashionable,” Andrew Tracey said.
“My father was regarded as an eccentric in the 1920s. People thought that Africans had no culture and they were despised. Even today, the African music that gets money, is Westernized.”
The fact is, he said, that “you don’t appreciate it if you hear too little. So you have to make Westerners very patient.
“African music is circular, it repeats short musical phrases of sound and every time you hear it, it gets deeper.”
Treasure trove of African music gets digitalized
Treasure trove of African music gets digitalized
Why some women choose Galentines over Valentines and how they might celebrate
- O’Sullivan is one of many women who find it empowering to focus on female friendship rather than relationship pressures
- Other ways to mark Galentine’s Day include going to a play, hiking, karaoke, playing cards or just having coffee
Christie O’Sullivan of Trinity, Florida, has spent 21 Valentine’s Days with her husband, but her favorite celebration was one spent with a girlfriend before she got married.
They took the day off work, got massages, and went out for cocktails and a fancy dinner.
“For me, it was 10 out of 10. That whole day was intentional,” said O’Sullivan. She remembers it as empowering “on a day that’s usually filled with pressure to be in a relationship, or sadness because I wasn’t currently in one.”
Galentine’s Day became a pop culture phenomenon with a 2010 episode of the TV comedy “Parks and Recreation” that celebrated female friendships around Valentine’s Day. Amy Poehler’s character, Leslie Knope, gathered her gal pals on Feb. 13.
“What’s Galentine’s Day? Oh, it’s only the best day of the year,” said Knope.
Honoring female friendships can happen any day of the year, of course. Whether on Feb. 13 or another day, here are some ways to create a fun-filled experience:
Making it a party
Chela Pappaccioli of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, has been hosting a Galentine’s Day bash at her home for the last three years. She has a bartender and a DJ hired, and this year invited 45 of her nearest and dearest. So far, she has 34 confirmations, and is assembling gift bags for her guests to take home. There are no men allowed “unless the bartender happens to be male.”
The event may be extravagant, but Pappaccioli says it’s worth it.
“It’s an escape to just be with your girls, be silly, do something fun and just focus on the friendships you’ve created and enjoying each other’s company,” she says.
Learning how to do something new
Liz Momblanco of Berkley, Michigan, who describes herself as a “serial hobbyist,” invites her friends to take classes like cookie and cake decorating, calligraphy and stained glass.
“I enjoy learning something new and having a shared experience,” said Momblanco, who has attended day retreats for women that offer activities like floral arranging, yoga or a cold plunge.
Marney Wolf, who runs the retreat company Luna Wolf, says providing an opportunity for art and creativity builds community.
“It bonds you, whether it’s the smallest thing or really deep. You watch these grown women turn into almost like a childlike kindergarten response like, ‘Oh my gosh! Good job! You’re so talented!’ That little lift is the easiest thing to do,” she said.
Filling a Valentine’s void
Wolf takes care to schedule Galentine’s-themed retreats near Valentine’s Day because some women don’t have someone to spend Feb. 14 with.
“I know it can be a really lonely time for people and I think some take it for granted,” she says.
Pappaccioli said a couple of divorced friends come to her party, and “even if you’re married it can be depressing because your husband may not be doing what you want or your boyfriend may not support you in the way you want,” she says.
“It’s nice to know that you don’t need that. You can still celebrate the holiday, but turn it around a little bit and celebrate the relationships you want to.”
Creating different kinds of bonds
Galentine’s Day get-togethers can forge new friendships. And spending quality time with a friend provides an opportunity to put the phone away, avoid distractions and build memories.
O’Sullivan is a social media strategist for businesses but appreciates that her bestie Valentine’s Day was without cellphones.
“We could be fully present — no photos, no texts, no nothing,” she says.
“So while that means there’s no actual record of that day occurring, it also means the details became a core memory without it.”
Some celebrate Galentine’s Day by just going out for coffee or playing cards. You might go with a group of women friends to a play or museum, or take a hike or a workout class.
Other ideas include thrift store shopping, country line dancing, roller skating, karaoke, junk journaling, and getting manicures and pedicures.
