KANYOK AND LUBA
OTHER MUSICS FROM ZIMBABWE
Southern Rhodesia (Ndau, Sena Tonga, Shona) 1948, '49, '51, '57, '58, '63
SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL MALAWI
Nyasaland (Mang'anja, Cewa, Yao) 1950, '57, '58
NORTHERN AND CENTRAL MALAWI
Nyasaland (Tonga, Tumbukwa, Cewa) 1950, '57, '58
All titles published by SWP Records, The Netherlands
Hugh Tracey (19031977) is one of the pillars of the discipline that still limps under the title of "ethnomusicology." Tracey's contributions as a primary researcher and field recorder are standing the test of time. His "Sound of Africa" series issued 210 recordings, published by the International Library of African Music (ILAM), which he had founded. These CDs are reissued recordings selected from that series and offer a glimpse of what has until now been mostly available only in academic archives. Tracey's work began with the Shona of Zimbabwe but expanded far beyond that region of Africa. It was a remarkable time for Africa, as it shifted or prepared to shift from its history as colonized territories. In their own way, Tracey's recordings also document the history of recording machines used for remote fieldwork. Tracey's first, in the 1930s, involved a clockwork-powered machine that cut a groove in an aluminum disc. Not till much later did he attain stereo recording capability with a Nagra. His microphone technique was to seek out the sound he wanted, hand holding the microphone to capture a spontaneous field mix that comes through superbly on these recordings. Tracey, it seems, sought to capture and document a cross-section of society in the tribal villages, schools, workplaces and anywhere else he found music. That wasn't always the most proficient performer. | |
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