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Sad news
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When we were marching to demand Mandela’s release, his was the music we wanted to hear. So sorry.Comment
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As if to prove some of us on the jazz section are not part of some right-on PC militant army, I don't think I have ever heard Soweto Blues. I remember Masekela most from his much played single Grazing in the GrassComment
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Hugh Masekela RIP...
Hugh Masekela obituary: South African jazz pioneer who fought the evil of apartheid. Guardian.
"Hugh Masekela , who has died aged 78, was one of the world’s finest and most distinctive horn players, whose performing on trumpet and flugelhorn mixed jazz with South African styles and music from across the African continent and diaspora. Exiled from his country for 30 years, he was also a powerful singer and songwriter and an angry political voice, using his music and live performances to attack the apartheid regime that had banished him from his homeland.
Even when he had returned to the country of his birth under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, after having lived and worked in the US and in Botswana, Masekela continued to comment fearlessly on political events in South Africa and around the world, enjoying his status as an international celebrity, playing for presidents and royalty and concert audiences, and often collaborating with other musical greats...." Cond in the Guardian online.
RIP Mr Masekela.
Music and Politics, let's have no more of THAT around HERE.
BN.Comment
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Good interview with Alyn Shipton re Hugh Masekela's life and music just now on Radio 3 (at c. 18.10 Brit time). If I understood correctly the upcoming Jazz Now (R3) will be a tribute.
BN.Comment
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Joshusa now has a very strong trumpet section....unfortunately Jericho's Wall are already down, he'll have to pay Hugh waiting time till another job comes along....
bong chingComment
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The upcoming Jazz Now is a concert by ICP - the Dutch Instant Composers Pool - but there'S a tribute to Hugh after that T around 12.15....Comment
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I really enjoyed his track 'The Rooster' featuring Themba Mokoena that appeared recently.
A brave man and a great musician...Rest in Peace, Hugh Masekela.
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Interesting that the tribute thread has been claimed by the jazzers. Fair enough but he was equally a world music artist, especially given the links to Trevor Huddleston, Miriam Makeba, Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Paul Simon and, of course Nelson Mandela going way back. I have kept coming back to what to write and yet find that it is simply that as a significant artist he was huge and I liked him very much as a person. And since July 2014, when he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of York, he was also a fellow graduate:
RIP Hugh Masekela
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Very sad news. I still treasure my CD of 'The Jazz Epistles'- Jazz in Africa(CAMDEN CD 1004) recorded in South Africa in 1959.
JRComment
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Love the U of York session. The ancestral voices are spectacular. Wish I could sing like that...Comment
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It is strange that other than these recordings , I always associate Hugh Masekela with the track "Grazing in the grass" which used to be played regularly on Jazz FM when I occasionally tuned in when I worked for Costain in Maidenhead. This track really fixed my perception of the trumpet player who I would have considered to be more of a World Music artist and perhaps even heading towards Smooth Jazz. The fact that he clearly had pop appeal meant that I never really investigated his music as music as Abdullah Ibrahim who was a big favourite of mine back in the 1980s. By and large, Masekela's music passed me by and even if you acknowledge the political clout it had, he didn't seem to be as influential as those musicians like Chris McGregor., Dudu Puckwana, Louis Moholo, etc whose influence is manifest in so much British jazz. I suppose Masekela is a bit similar in this respect to someone like Manu Dibango who came out of jazz but whose appeal goes way outside the genre. The tracks I have found on YouTube put his music in the Fusion style and also include vocals.Originally posted by Jazzrook View Post
Other than the Epistles tracks I am ignorant of his playing and wouldn't know where to really start.Comment
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