{"id":136,"date":"2015-10-11T15:30:30","date_gmt":"2015-10-11T14:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/colonialisms\/?p=136"},"modified":"2015-10-11T15:31:20","modified_gmt":"2015-10-11T14:31:20","slug":"review-the-bird-of-the-valley-and-other-african-stories-as-told-by-hugh-tracey-and-forest-music-northern-belgian-congo-1952","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/colonialisms\/2015\/10\/11\/review-the-bird-of-the-valley-and-other-african-stories-as-told-by-hugh-tracey-and-forest-music-northern-belgian-congo-1952\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Bird of the Valley and other African Stories as told by Hugh Tracey and Forest\u00a0Music: Northern Belgian Congo, 1952"},"content":{"rendered":"

AHRC-funded PhD student John Kegel is impressed by the work of ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey<\/h2>\n

In the 1950\u2019s Hugh Tracey (1903-1977), who grew up in Southern Rhodesia, travelled across\u00a0sub-Saharan Africa, usually with a caravan filled with recording equipment. His goal during\u00a0these wanderings was to record African music for posterity and in this he succeeded\u00a0magnificently. Ranging from the drum groups of the Court of the Mwami in Rwanda to\u00a0Bulawayo Jazz, Hugh Tracey managed to collect a wide array of music and African stories\u00a0which are now readily available on CD or on-line.<\/p>\n

Of the two CDs reviewed here ‘The Bird of the Valley’ was downloaded from the internet,\u00a0whereas ‘Forest Music’ is from the recently re-mastered set of Hugh Tracey CDs released by\u00a0SWP records. In Bird of the Valley Tracey reads a number of short stories \u2013 about five\u00a0minutes each \u2013 of the Karanga people of present-day Zimbabwe translated into English. He\u00a0turns out to be not only an ethno-musicologist, but also a wonderful story-teller, who easily\u00a0leads the listener into Africa. Most stories echo the warnings of childhood: don\u2019t follow\u00a0strangers (\u201cThe Sisters and the Lion Men\u201d) and don\u2019t lie (\u201cRabbit and Tortoise\u201d). Others are\u00a0more philosophical, but all carry a message that gives a unique insight into Karangan culture\u00a0and mind-set.<\/p>\n

\"The‘Forest Music’ might be difficult for the non-professional western ear to adapt to at first, but\u00a0those who persevere will be richly rewarded by its striking music. The CD is primarily made\u00a0up of drum and vocal pieces, sung by both women and men, for different occasions, including\u00a0celebrations. However, for me, the pi\u00e8ce de r\u00e9sistance is the last track, \u201cTalking Drums of the\u00a0Upper Congo\u201d. Here, Hugh Tracey explains how drums are used to communicate across large\u00a0distances between the Lokele villages of the Upper Congo. The setting is incredible: we hear\u00a0the wind rustling in the background as the Rev. W.H. Ford translates a message from English\u00a0into drum language, which is then played by a Lokele drummer. Although most of the music\u00a0was recorded outside, environmental factors do not influence the music in a negative way,\u00a0which is a tribute to the skills of both Hugh Tracey sixty years ago and Michael Baird of\u00a0SWP records today.<\/p>\n

Music is one of the most emotionally and culturally expressive mediums of communication\u00a0and I cannot sufficiently recommend the music recorded by Hugh Tracey to any historian\u00a0interested in Africa.<\/p>\n

Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hugh Tracey shows his collection of African instruments:<\/p>\n