Hugh Masekela

BIO

Jazz giant Hugh Masekela (4 April 1939 - 23 January 2018) was a well known flugelhornist, trumpeter, composer, singer and a defiant political voice.

He was a product of South Africa’s golden age of jazz and was a member of the legendary group, The Jazz Epistles, with Kippie Moeketsi, Abdullah Ibrahim and Jonas Gwangwa, as well as the touring musical 'King Kong' in the late 1950s. Exiled to the US in the 1960, he helped bring Africa’s voice to the west. In the early 60s he studied in London and New York, soon releasing albums such as 'Trumpet Africaine' (1963) and 'Grrr' (1966). He was married briefly to Miriam Makeba and had hits in the US with the pop jazz tunes 'Up, Up and Away' (1967) and the number one smash 'Grazing in the Grass' (1968), which sold four million copies.

In the 70s he travelled the world, working in a variety of genres, including Afrobeat and funk. In the mid-80s he returned to southern Africa, basing himself across the border in Botswana and working with South African musicians on albums like 'Techno-Bush' (1984), which earned him another top 10 hit in the US with ‘Don’t Go Lose It Baby’, followed by Waiting For The Rain (1985). Other albums during that period, such as 'Home' (1982) and 'Tomorrow' (1987), also drew on top exiled musicians. He returned to South Africa in the early 90s and continues to record and perform regularly. In 2004 he published his autobiography, Still Grazing. His 2010 album 'Jabulani' won a Grammy Award for Best World Music in 2013.

Picture source: David Durbach