Hugh Masekela Returns
--By Ron Wynn

When he was growing up in Witbank, South Africa the famed artist, bandleader, composer and instrumentalist Hugh Masekela switched from the piano to the trumpet after watching the actor Kirk Douglas portraying jazz legend Bix Beiderbecke in the 1950 biopic Young Man With a Horn.

Masekela was fascinated, though he later learned the movie was historically inaccurate. He became determined to master the trumpet, and received vital assistance and his own horn from Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, a chaplain at the St. Peters Secondary School, who was also a fierce anti-apartheid activist.

Eventually Maskela became somewhat of a star, even touring for a year in the orchestra for the musical King Kong written by Todd Matshikiza. It featured Nathan Mdledle of the Manhattan Brothers in the lead and its cast also included a performer named Miriam Makeba, whom Maskela later married. The two have maintained a fruitful professional relationship for decades since their marriage ended. Both Makeba and Masekela spoke out publicly against the apartheid regime controlling South Africa, and Masekela went into exile following the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre, when 69 Africans protesters were shot down by the government, and all gatherings of more than 10 people were banned.

He subsequently went to London, then arrived in America in 1961, where he was assisted by Harry Belafonte. There was no “world music” industry and very little interest in or awareness of African idioms outside a handful of collectors and specialty radio programs. But Masekela, along with Makeba, percussionist Olatunji and a handful of others help change that situation. Masekela even had a number one pop hit in 1968 with “Grazin’ In The Grass.”

Hugh Masekela has enjoyed an extraordinary career by any measure. He’s appeared on releases by The Byrds and Paul Simon, toured with Simon during the ‘80s, collaborated in the musical development for the successful play Sarafina!, and was featured in the 2003 documentary Amandla! that chronicled the role music played in the downfall of apartheid. A year later Masekela’s extensive autobiography Grazin’ In the Grass: The Musical Journey of Hugh Masekela detailed both the triumphs and troubles (battles against alcohol addiction that covered parts of three decades).

His new two-CD release Hugh Masekela: Live At The Market Theatre (Times Square) celebrates the 30th anniversary of Johannesburg’s celebrated Market Theatre. It’s also a wonderful showcase for the spicy, vibrant Masekela sound, which is still rich and vigorous, though he now plays flugelhorn. The music combines jazz and African elements in the almost identical manner Masekela pioneered during the ‘60s. Masekela now resides in his homeland once more, though he makes frequent visits around the globe.

Ironically, when he first began playing in the United States, he tried to essentially imitate the style of people he long admired like Miles Davis. It was Davis who encouraged him to incorporate the beats and influences of his homeland into his new music, telling him that there were plenty of guys around who could play great hard bop and blues, but very few able to do that while also exploring and utilizing many other types of African elements.

Masekela took his advice and is still doing it with zest on Live At The Market Theatre. Yet, despite his substantial achievements, Masekela can still be overlooked. The current issue of England’s Songlines, one of the world’s best international music journals, contains an article on 21 world music rebels. Somehow they omitted Masekela, yet put Makeba second on the list. While being an enormous fan of such people as Fela Kuti, Bob Marley, Astor Piazzolla, Thomas Mapfumo, Ruben Blades and Gilberto Gil, the omission of Hugh Masekela is stunning and baffling.

But for those of us whose initial introduction to African music was during the ‘60s, Hugh Masekela will always be included in any list
of major world music performers.