Andrew Tracey: Performer, Scholar, Teacher, Mentor

Abstract

A Legacy to Uphold
Born to follow in his father Hugh Tracey’s footsteps, Andrew Tracey has inspired countless people with his knowledge of African music. This he has done through his publications and films and his teaching and performing from the early days of his career in the 1960s through his Directorship of the International Library of African Music (ILAM) from 1978-2005; and this he continues to do in the present. Andrew’s vision for his work has always been in accord with that of his father who, according to J.H. Kwabena Nketia (1998, 51), was a leading scholar of the colonial period who saw African music as an artistic heritage that needed to be ‘shared, preserved, and promoted’ and who worked tirelessly to encourage recognition of the significance of African music in social life. Nketia notes (1998, 53):