October 9, 2010
Kalimba Magic NEWS
Appeal for Saronde
Geoffrey Tracey Seeks to Build African Music Center
to Save Historical Birthplace of Hugh Tracey Kalimba
Hugh Tracey discovered the wonder of African music and began documenting it. His son Andrew Tracey played African music and began to understand it. His son Geoffrey Tracey was born in Africa, has studied with a traditional Zulu healer and seeks to give authentic African music exposure to the world. But right now Geoffrey is fighting to save a piece of this Earth, Saronde, which is intertwined with the history of the Hugh Tracey kalimba. Learn about Geoffrey Tracey's appeal to form a multi-cultural music center at Saronde and his objective to protect this land from development.
the front lawn, early 1960s.
Recent History of Saronde
It is little known that Dr. Hugh Tracey, the inventor of the Hugh Tracey Kalimba, lived and worked from a beautiful 36 hectare property near Johannesburg which he called Saronde after the name of a character in a Zimbabwean folktale he had collected while on one of his fieldtrips. This property nurtured the beginnings of projects which positively affected, and continue to affect the lives of many people.
Every reader of this article is no doubt familiar with the Hugh Tracey kalimba. What you might not know is that the Hugh Tracey kalimba was manufactured at Saronde between 1954 and 1977 (when Hugh Tracey died and Hugh's company African Musical Instruments (AMI) was moved to Grahamstown. AMI continues to supply high quality instruments for musicians and schools globally.
Geoffrey, and father Andrew Tracey, 1972.
Andrew's Steelbande, the very first steelband in South Africa, started at Saronde, using instruments imported from the Carribbean. Steelbands are now a feature of schools right through the country after a member of Andrew's band taught himself how to make the instruments and sold these to the schools. Hugh's sons Andrew and Paul were living there when they created the successful musical show, Wait a Minim which travelled around the world in all the major centres for seven years. Saronde is also the place where many African as well as non African people have learned of the beauty and complexity of African music.
The Proposed Saronde Centre
The Saronde Centre will be a place where people can come to learn about the beauty of African music and culture, drawing on the work of Dr. Hugh Tracey and others, and to be inspired to discover their own intrinsic musicality through a strong emphasis on learning how to do the music, not just talk about it. The Centre would have facilities to host and accommodate local and international visitors. Additionally, the Centre will function as a healing spa retreat and manage training programs in sustainable development, food security and primary health care partnered with the use of medicinal plants.
One of the Last Unspoilt Places
Hugh had the foresight to declare Saronde a private nature reserve in the same year that he bought the property, 1955. It remains as one of the last unspoilt, undeveloped valleys on the Witwatersrand ridge. There are rare and endangered species of plant and animal and beautiful waterfalls along the course of the stream. The stream, along with six others in the area, itself inspired the name of the whole area, Witwatersrand, the White waters ridge. It is one of the few that is unpolluted by radioactive and toxic acid mine drainage in the area, which is a legacy of 150 years of mining activity here. Massive urban development has taken place near the area. Development and environmental conservation are mostly at odds, with many examples of developers flaunting environmental restrictions and pushing plans through with under the table payments.
Geoffrey Tracey: My Appeal
The main obstacle to achieving my dream of the Saronde Centre is that a shareholder of the property needs to be bought out and has set a deadline of November 2010 for this to happen. I am looking for sympathetic investors to assist me to secure the land by buying this shareholder's share. If I do not find the money, then the property will be sold, most likely to one of the ruthless developers who abound in this area and we will lose this powerful opportunity. Later, if this hurdle is overcome, further funding will be sought to allow for infrastructural development and setting up the project.
Please visit www.gogohugh.wordpress.com for more details about the plan for the Saronde Centre.
Contact Geoffrey Tracey on +27 82 565 9697, +27 11 665 4350, gogohugh@gmail.com
You can "view" Saronde with Google Earth using the coordinates 26 04 23.74 S, 27 46 36.22 E. The city development comes right to the edge of Saronde.
Kalimba Magic recently sent $1000, the proceeds from our last batch of premium kalimbas to the AMI worker's fund for health care and school fees. The money from the next batch (look for these in next month's newsletter) will go to the Saronde fund - or if the Saronde projects fails to come up with the money to protect Saronde from development, it will go to the AMI worker's fund as usual. —Mark
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