Andrew Tracey

While Paul oversaw the production of kalimbas at AMI, Andrew began working with his father, seeking to understand and document the musics of south eastern Africa.

The instrument that Hugh Tracey had fallen in love with when he arrived in Africa in the 1920s was the mbira, a complex 24-note lamellophone used by the Shona people of Zimbabwe.

Starting in 1961, Tracey co-wrote, with Jeremy Taylor and his brother Paul, the songs for two musical reviews that played in Johanesberg and in Rhodesia.

between 1962 and 1968 in South Africa, Rhodesia, England, United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, including 461 shows spanning more than a year on Broadway in New York.

When Tracey returned to Africa in 1969, he quickly got back to his research on African music, carrying on as an associate at ILAM under his father.

His field research centred on Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Uganda, South Africa, and Namibia, focused on the playing technique of members of the mbira and xylophone families.

Tracey asserts that the first written account of the kalimba by Portuguese missionary Father Dos Santos, in Mozambique in 1589, was in essence these eight notes.

When father Hugh died in 1977, Tracey took over his job and became Director of ILAM and editor of the Journal of African Music, roles he filed until his retirement in 2005.

During the 28 years Tracey headed ILAM, he lectured on African music at universities in South Africa, Zimbabwe, United States, Germany, Portugal, for various schools and societies, TV, & radio.

Tracey with his father, Hugh, looking on from the wall
The mbira (left) and the karimba or mbira nyunga nyunga in Tracey's hands
The relationship between the karimba and mbira note layouts
The Hugh Tracey Karimba, made by African Musical Instruments.
Tracey standing in his old office at ILAM with author Mark Holdaway, discussing the mbiras and karimbas on the wall.
The Shona karimba song, Kana ndoda, written out in kalimba tablature. The tablature reads from bottom up. The shaded vertical lines in the tablature represent the shorter upper course of tines, while the white vertical lines represent the longer lower course of tines. This is one of many traditional karimba songs which Tracey wrote down.