Legendary Hugh Masekela to jazz up Cape Town
“Jazz, like any artistic phenomenon, represents the sum of an addition. The factors of this addition are, to my mind, African music, French and American music and folklore,” wrote Robert Goffin, Belgian jazz critic, in one of his 1940s writings.
If Hugh Masekela speaks only circumspectly about the music of other artists and even his own, it is not through indifference. One feels the intensity with which he lives each moment, his innate goodness, his simplicity. Gifted with an extremely lively sensibility, his reactions are immediate and attractive in their finesse and intuition.
Jazz is said to be the fundamental rhythms of human life and man’s contemporary reassessment of his traditional values. The early influences of tribal drums seem to point out that jazz has to do with human survival and the expression of life.
Bra Hugh (as popularly known to South Africans) approaches people and things with his entire humanity. Music is within him and a melodic fragment is a voice speaking to him, thrilling him to the depth of his subconscious.
“There are too many groovy things to see while grazin’ in the grass…flowers with colours for takin’, everything outta sight (grazin’ in the grass, yes, baby, can you dig it?),”
Masekela displays his spontaneity in this 1968 hit ‘Grazin’ in the Grass’. This is the same hit that made Hugh Masekela an international household name.
Later, Bra Hugh toured with ex-wife Miriam Makeba and Paul Simon on Simon’s Graceland tour, bringing the sounds of South Africa to a global pop audience.
Internationally acclaimed for decades with his many tittles in the music industry, lyricist, producer, composer and trumpeter, Hugh Masekela will forever be associated with professionalism and charisma to fans of his mix of jazz, bebop, funk and Afrobeat.
Even though he has faced his fair share of personal challenges (as detailed in ‘Still Grazing’) the boy from Witbank was always single-minded in what he wanted to achieve.
Indeed, Masekela’s poignant, rousing live performance that opened the first ever 2010 FIFA Kick-Off Concert on June 10th and his appearance a day later in the centre of Soweto’s Soccer City was a reminder of his global reach – something that, if anything, is only strengthening in his 70s.
In October 2010, just months after his acclaimed FIFA 2010 World Cup performances, Masekela headed for North America where he undertook a multidate, sold-out tour of the territory that included performances at Carnegie Hall (New York City), Royal Symphony Hall (Chicago) and the Royal Conservatory in Toronto, Canada.
Take Masekela’s upcoming album with Afrobeat pioneer and Fela Kuti’s drummer Tony Allen which is due for release on the World Circuit label late in 2011. Or his work with South African house producer Black Coffee, on the crossover smash club hit, “Song of Life” and a planned project to re-record “The Boy’s Doin’ iT” with South Africa’s internationally hyped psych rockers BLK JKS.
These are all powerful indications of a creative mind that’s always restless in the pursuit of crafting things that push boundaries, tell stories, build bridges, and, mostly entertain.
In November 2010, working with producer Don Laka, Masekela added yet another studio album to his catalogue in the form of the November 2010 released ‘Jabulani’.
What’s more, he found the time to create the mesmerizing “Songs of Migration” with James Ngcobo that features the stories of migrant mine workers, woven around the original songs of Mackay Davashe, Joseph Shabalala, Victor Ndlazilwane, Gibson Kente, Dorothy Masuka, Miriam Makeba and Masekela himself. “Songs of Migration” is set to make its international debut in 2011.
You only need to listen to one of his best compositions ‘Stimela (The Coal Train)’ to understand why Masekela’s career is such a standout – and would have been even if he’d not also taken on the mantle of anti-apartheid activist, a role that saw him leave South Africa in May 1960, headed for London and, ultimately, New York.
The track is also a brilliant example of Masekela’s ability to open the borders of jazz and include anything from kwela, African township jive and afro-beat into the sound.
It’s not surprising that Masekela has never wavered in his belief in his music.
The list of studio albums, live performances, and collaborations shows no signs of slowing down as Masekela moves through his 70s (he turns 72 on April 4th 2011). In fact, Masekela is more restless, energetic and determined to showcase the best Africa has to the world than ever before. And, for a creative talent with decades of incredible accomplishments behind him, that’s really saying something.
He is now actively working to bring traditional South African music -the folk music of the townships, of protest, of ceremony -to a new generation in the country of his birth.
Hugh Masekela will be performing in the 12th Cape Town Jazz International Festival which kick starts on 25 Friday, March 2011.