The theme for this year’s UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage (27 October) is – “Audiovisual Heritage: see, hear and learn’.
In support of the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) will host a portion of a larger exhibition from the International Library of African Music (ILAM) titled, “For the Future Generations’, in the SABC Radio park foyer from 5 to 28 October.
The full travelling exhibition 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 during 19 field excursions that took him as far north of the then Belgian Congo, are represented in this exhibition.
On display at the SABC is a selection of information panels featuring 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 ILAM’s history. A prime attraction is a large screen projection of the Tracey 1939 film shot on a field excursion in Zululand.
“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 Tracey’s mission to preserve “for future generations,’ says Prof Diane Thram, Director International Library of African Music, Rhodes University.
On the day of the celebration on 27 October, world renowned multi instrumentalist Pops Mohamed will perform with The Pops Mohamed Duo a lunch hour concert for the SABC staff. He will demonstrate some of the instruments that Tracey recorded during his travels.
The ILAM is currently located at the Rhodes University, Grahamstown – Eastern Cape.
