UK: International jazz star, Hugh Masekela performs in London on the final stop of his UK tour

Record ID: 454764

  • Title: UK: International jazz star, Hugh Masekela performs in London on the final stop of his UK tour
  • Date: 24th May 2007
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) HUGH MASEKELA, MUSICIAN, SAYING: "I never have considered myself of having contributed much to changes in South African. I think I might have been involved in conscientizing people about what was happening in South Africa."
  • Embargoed: 8th June 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVAKRS2SYTU0THIVWBGR3P4NO4P
  • Story Text: Legendary musician Hugh Masekela's delightful fusion of African rhythms with Jazz and Latin styles thrilled audiences in London's Barbican theatre on Saturday night (May 19).
    Masekela grew up listening to songs on the gramophone and by the age of six was learning to play the piano. Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, who was then the chaplain of his boarding school, gave Masekela his first trumpet in 1954.
    "I was a sort of restless kid and one day he (Trevor Huddleston) came to me and said what do you really want to do, because you always seem to be in a scrap with the authorities. And I said Father if I can get a trumpet I won't bother anybody anymore and the rest is history," he said.
    Masekela is passionate and committed to the fight for freedom and justice. Leaving his native South Africa in 1960 during the Apartheid, he was heavily influenced by Louis Armstrong and Miriam Makeba. Through his songs he tackled political issues and raised awareness of the situation in South Africa.
    "I never have considered myself of having contributed much to changes in South African. I think I might have been involved in conscientizing people about what was happening in South Africa," he said.
    Masekela said that his songs which have 'captured people's imaginations' had diverse influences. One such song is 'Bring Him Back Home', written by Masekela as a call for Nelson Mandela's release from prison.
    "So in '85 he sent me a birthday card on April the fourth, he smuggled it out of jail. And it was a beautiful letter saying I know you doing A, B, C and D and he knew my children's names and everything and he said keep up the spirit you know. And I went to the piano and I started singing this song and my wife came up to me and said I haven't heard that song before when did you write that? And I said shhh, Nelson just sent it," he said explaining Winnie Mandela and his father knew each other and through Winnie Mandela information on Masekela and his work reached Nelson Mandela in prison.
    Looking at the situation people find themselves in some African countries, Masekela felt 'amnesia' was the African governments biggest enemy.
    "And a lot of it is too blame on the last government. I don't know the machinations of government, but I just think for a country as rich as South Africa, for a country as rich as the Congo, for a country as rich as Zimbabwe, for a country that's becoming as wealthy as Sudan. For a country like Somali, you know, Ethiopia, wherever people are downtrodden by their own people. I think that's a bigger travesty even than colonialism, its a bigger travesty than oppression. Because amnesia, more than anything else is our biggest enemy of African governments and African governance," he said
    Masekela said African musicians needed to gain control over their entertainment industry.
    "Until the music, the film, the entertainment industry is owned by Africans and projects African values the way the Chinese, or the Japanese, or the Indian or even the Europeans do. Until that time the roll of African musician's is in the desert because they don't have power," he said.
    He also reflected on the use of music as a catalyst for social change in South Africa.
    "And I think no country has ever the power of music like the people in South Africa with the people's revolution. It was difficult not to admire them. And I think that is what touched the souls of all of the musicians all over the world. They were responsible for pressuring their governments to stop being friends with the South African apartheid government. That was the only time I can think of music really affecting, affecting change. It was just a massive avalanche."
    Masekela's performance in the Barbican was the last stop on his UK tour.
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