Listen All Around: The Golden Age of Central and East African Music

A historic musical journey into the heart of Africa’s vibrant rumba scene.

Listen All Around presents 47 newly transferred and remastered recordings made by Hugh Tracey between 1950 and 1958 across Central and East Africa. Recorded in the Congo, Kenya, Tanganyika, and Zanzibar, these tracks offer a vivid portrait of a musical golden age, where traditional sounds met modern influences. Featuring Congolese rumba, dansi, benga, and more, the collection showcases electric guitars, string bands, jazz orchestras, and vocal ensembles in full creative bloom. Together, they form a rich sonic landscape that helped shape the future of African popular music.

What’s Included

• 47 audio tracks
• Digitally transferred and remastered from Hugh Tracey's original field recordings made in central and eastern Africa between 1950 and 1958.
• View the complete tracklist here: [Insert hosted PDF link]
• 84-page digital book (PDF)
• Features essays, track annotations, and over 50 archival images.
• Provides context on the music, musicians, and cultural history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Tanganyika, and Zanzibar.

Notable Artists & Performers

“Listen All Around” features standout performances from influential Central and East African musicians, including:

• Kalenga Antonance – Known for the reflective opener “Mamboleyo.”
• Ilunga Patrice & Misomba Victor – Appear throughout with rich vocal harmonies.
• Coast Social Orchestra – A prolific dance band blending Afro-Arab and East African styles.
• Lang Obiero – A soulful voice from Kenya, featured on multiple tracks.
• Dar es Salaam Jazz Band – Tanzanian pioneers of urban dance music.
• Mwenda Jean Bosco – Legendary Congolese guitarist and early rumba innovator.
• Chemutoi Ketienya & Kipsigis Girls – Perform the captivating “Chemirocha III.”

Recordist Bio

Hugh Tracey (1903–1977) was a British-born ethnomusicologist and the founder of the International Library of African Music (ILAM) in 1954. A pioneer in field recording, Tracey traveled extensively through Africa, documenting musical styles that had never been recorded before. His legacy lives on in ILAM’s vast archive — one of the most significant collections of African music in the world. Listen All Around is a collaboration between ILAM and Dust-to-Digital, presenting a rare and immersive look at Tracey’s East and Central African recordings from the 1950s.

Praise & Reviews

"This compilation tactfully condenses the music of numerous cultural and national identities into a meager two hours. It’s worth your time."

— PopMatters



"Listen All Around is full of moments like this—homespun and mellow, reflecting times gone by while embracing what’s to come."

— Bandcamp Album of the Day

"Now, the Dust-to-Digital team has sifted through hundreds of songs to release a terrific collection… focusing on Tracey’s field recordings from 1950–1958 of rumba music and its variations… This older, sweeter music still sounds fresh, however, and viewed through today’s lens, it also seems so innocent."

— KCRW – Rhythm Planet

"Unsurprisingly... that variety is best illustrated by the three versions of a single song... Each takes a very different direction … Coast Social Orchestra’s ‘Nali Kisafiri’ is a radiant and rolling delight."

— Brainwashed