Celebrate African music on World Day for Audiovisual Heritage

The exhibition, which runs until 28 October 2011, celebrates the work of Hugh Tracey who was a former SABC employee and founder of International Library of African Music (ILAM) in 1954. His collections of sound recordings and photographs of the sub-continent, captured from 1928 through the early 1970s from 19 field excursions that took him as far north of the then Belgian Congo, are represented in this exhibition.

On display is a selection of information panels featuring Hugh Tracey's broadcasting career, a map showing his numerous field excursions and a feature on South African bow music. Sound stations will provide audio to these panels. Also on display is a video station that features an overview of the library's history. A prime attraction is a large screen projection of his 1939 film, shot on a field excursion in Zululand.

Build global awareness

UNESCO proclaimed 27 October as the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage to be celebrated annually to build global awareness of the various issues at stake in preserving audiovisual heritage. It states, "Sound recordings and moving images in any form are vulnerable and easily discarded or deliberately destroyed. Too much of the world's 20th century audiovisual material is now lost and much more is slipping beyond recovery because of neglect, natural decay and technological obsolescence. Unless the public awareness of the importance of preservation is increased, this trend will continue."

"This exhibition is a major outreach effort intended to educate the general public regarding Hugh Tracey and the International Library of African Music's legacy for preservation and dissemination of African music throughout the world from the field recordings Tracey amassed from the 1930s through the 1960s. As its theme implies, the exhibit aims to educate and disseminate the rich heritage of African music that it was Hugh Tracey's mission to preserve 'for future generations'," says Prof. Diane Thram, director International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, where the library is located.

On 27 October, world-renowned multi-instrumentalist Pops Mohamed will perform with The Pops Mohamed Duo, a lunch hour concert for the SABC staff, where he will demonstrate some of the instruments that Hugh Tracey recorded during his travels.