Hugh Masekela, the South
African trumpeter who became famous in the U.S. in 1968 with his rendition of “Grazing
in the Grass,” died on January 23, 2018 of prostate cancer. He was 78
years of age.
Masekela was born in South Africa on
April 4, 1939. As a child, he sang and played piano. At 14, he took up the
trumpet and eventually the cornet and flugelhorn. His music protested the South
African government and its system of apartheid. He attributed some of his
success to Miles Davis, who advised him to diversify his style of music in
order to set himself apart.
He co-founded the Jazz Epistles, the
first African jazz group to record an album. He ultimately collaborated with
world renowned musicians such as Paul Simon, Herb Alpert, Ladysmith Black
Mambazo, and Miriam Makeba, to whom he was married for a short period in the
mid-1960s.
Masekela composed “Soweto Blues” in
1977 for Makeba, to commemorate the Soweto Uprising of 1976. He composed “Bring
Him Back Home” in 1987 in honor of Nelson Mandela, to protest his continued
imprisonment. The song became an unofficial anthem.
Masekela was instrumental in the musical development for the
Broadway play, “Sarafina!” and recorded with the band Kalahari. He was featured
in the documentary film “Amandla!: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony” in 2003.
He founded the Botswana
International School of Music in 1985. He was nominated for three Grammy
Awards, including a nomination for “Grazing in the Grass.”
Masekela was known as the father of African
jazz, but was also widely known as an activist and philanthropist. The world
has lost an extraordinary musician and freedom fighter.
Hugh Ramapolo
Masekela [04/04/1939 – 01/23/2018]
© 01/23/2018
