The man in the photo with me is the South African Ethnomusicologist Dr. Andrew Tracey, Professor Emeritus, Rhodes University. He is from a family of well known musicians and moved the International Library of African Music from Johannesburg to Grahamstown several years ago, becoming it's second director, after the first director, his father Dr. Hugh Tracey. He shared some pointers about working as a researcher in South Africa and told me to "mind my vowels". Minding one's vowels is not as easy as it sounds, when one was born and raised in Kentucky. Dipthongs must all be eradicated if I am to succeed.
My first words to him were "I am not an Ethnomusicologist...." and his reply was "You are an Ethnomusicologist by virtue of the work you have begun." How about that! Everyone in this line of work (multicultural music specialists like me, reseachers, educators, etc.) has issues with terminology and I just wanted to get any out on the table, and was surprised at his response! In addition to Dr. Tracey, I had the good fortune of meeting with a few other local musicians and educators, including Mrs. Penny Whitford, Marimba director at the Cathedral and Mrs. Mandy Carver, Music Educator in Grahamstown and Dr. Diane Thram, Director of the International Library of African Music at Rhodes U. These colleagues provided me with some insights from the point of view of music teaching and directing in South Africa, along with some great hospitality and warmth, very characteristic of the Grahamstown crowd.
On the way back to Port Elizabeth, there were no donkeys to dodge, but a lonely baboon on the road that I was lucky not to have hit. Because I was trying to fly into Durban on the day of the semi-final between Germany and Spain, I was at the airport for several hours before successfully reaching Durban near midnight. Gugu was there waiting for me, as only a true friend would do - since we still had to drive the two hours back to Zululand, where I woke up this morning and took the day off.
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