Hugh Masekela

Hugh Ramapolo Masekela·South AfricaSouth Africa· Witbank

South African flugelhorn, trumpet and cornet player (4 April 1939 - 23 January 2018). In 1961, as part of the anti-apartheid campaign, he was exiled to the United States where he was befriended by Harry Belafonte. Primarily, he played in jazz ensembles, with guest appearances on albums by The Byrds, and Paul Simon. Masekela was a former collaborator of Abdullah Ibrahim. He is reported to have been initially inspired in his musical growth by Trevor Huddleston, a British priest working in the South African townships who financed Masekela's first trumpet. Masekela played his way through the Sophiatown scene with The Jazz Epistles and to Britain with King Kong, to find himself in New York in the early-1960s. He had hits in the United States with the pop-jazz tunes Up, Up And Away and the number one hit Grazing In The Grass. In 1987, his single Bring Him Back Home became an anthem for the movement to free Nelson Mandela. After apartheid ended, Masekela returned to South Africa. A renewed interest in his African roots led him to collaborate with West and Central African musicians, and finally to reconnect with South African players when he set up a mobile studio in Botswana, just over the South African border, in the 1980s. Here he re-absorbed and re-used mbaqanga strains, a style he has continued to use since his return to South Africa in the early-1990s. Born: 4th April 1939, in Witbank, Mpumalanga, South Africa. Died: 23rd January 2018, in Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa [from prostate cancer, aged 78].

Discography

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The Emancipation Of Hugh Masekela

1966

Studio Album

Hugh Masekela's Next Album

1966

Studio Album

Grrr

1966

Studio Album

The Americanization Of Ooga Booga

1966

Studio Album

Hugh Masekela's Latest

1967

Studio Album

The Promise Of A Future

1968

Studio Album

Masekela

1969

Studio Album

Reconstruction

1970

Studio Album

Johannesburg Hi-Lite Jive

1971

Studio Album

Home Is Where The Music Is

1972

Studio Album

Masekela Introducing Hedzoleh Soundz

1973

Studio Album

I Am Not Afraid

1974

Studio Album

The Boy's Doin' It

1975

Studio Album

The Boy's Doin' It

1975

Studio Album

Melody Maker

1976

Studio Album

Colonial Man

1976

Studio Album

You Told Your Mama Not To Worry

1977

Studio Album

Herb Alpert / Hugh Masekela

1978

Studio Album

The African Connection

1980

Studio Album

Home

1982

Studio Album

Thula

1982

Studio Album

Working For A Dollar Bill

1983

Studio Album

African Sounds For Mandela

1983

Studio Album

Techno-Bush

1984

Studio Album

Waiting For The Rain

1985

Studio Album

Tomorrow

1987

Studio Album

Sarafina!

1988

Studio Album

Uptownship

1989

Studio Album

Beatin' Aroun De Bush

1992

Studio Album

Hope

1994

Studio Album

Notes Of Life

1995

Studio Album

Sixty

1999

Studio Album

Black To The Future

1999

Studio Album

Umoja - The Spirit Of Togetherness - Original Cast Recording

2001

Studio Album

Time

2002

Studio Album

Revival

2005

Studio Album

Almost Like Being In Jazz

2005

Studio Album

Phola

2008

Studio Album

Jabulani

2011

Studio Album

Presents Songs Of Migration

2011

Studio Album

Live At Carnival City

2011

Studio Album

playing@work

2012

Studio Album

Friends

2012

Studio Album

Playing At Work Re-Worked

2013

Studio Album

No Borders

2016

Studio Album

Essentials

2017

Studio Album

Rejoice

2020

Studio Album

Siparia To Soweto

2024

Studio Album