Andrew Tracey

Tracey with his father, Hugh, looking on from the wall

Andrew Tracey (5 May 1936, Durban, South Africa -12 January 2024, Gqeberha, South Africa) was a South African ethnomusicologist, promoter of African music, composer, folk singer, band leader, and actor. His father, Hugh Tracey (1903–1977), pioneered the study of traditional African music in the 1920s–1970s, created the International Library of African Music (ILAM) in 1954, and started the company African Musical Instruments (AMI) which manufactured the first commercial kalimbas in the 1950s.

Tracey continued and complemented the work of his father in a variety of ways. With brother Paul, he co-wrote and performed in the world musical revue Wait a Minim! which travelled around the world for seven years. With his father and brother, Tracey wrote the first instructional materials for the Hugh Tracey kalimbas which were being sent around the world in the 1960s. Upon his father's death in 1977, Tracey took over his father's role as director of ILAM, which he filled until his retirement in 2005, and his wife Heather took over the role of director of AMI until 1999.[1]

  1. ^ Davey, Derek (31 July 2019). "The Traceys: An intergenerational story of African music". Music in Africa Foundation. Johannesburg. Archived from the original on 2 August 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2020.