Hugh Masekela was called the father of South African jazz. His music touched the oppressed people of South Africa!
So let’s find out some trivia and facts about his life and career!
- His full name is Hugh Ramapolo Masekela
- He was born on 4 April 1939
- He died in 23 January 2018
- He was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer, and singer
- He has been described as “the father of South African jazz”
- Hugh Masekela was known for his jazz compositions
- And for writing well-known anti-apartheid songs such as “Soweto Blues” and “Bring Him Back Home”
- He also had a number-one US pop hit in 1968
- With his version of “Grazing in the Grass”
- Hugh Masekela was nominated for a Grammy Award three times
- Including a nomination for Best World Music Album for his 2012 album Jabulani
- One for Best Musical Cast Show Album for Sarafina! The Music Of Liberation (1989)
- And one for Best Contemporary Pop Performance for the song “Grazing in the Grass” (1968)
- From 1964 to 1966 he was married to singer and activist Miriam Makeba
- He had subsequent marriages to Chris Calloway, Jabu Mbatha, and Elinam Cofie
- He was the father of American television host Sal Masekela
- Poet, educator, and activist Barbara Masekela is his younger sister
- Masekela died in Johannesburg on the early morning of 23 January 2018 from prostate cancer
- He died at the age of 78
- Hugh Masekela was involved in several social initiatives
- And served as a director on the board of the Lunchbox Fund
- A non-profit organization that provides a daily meal to students of township schools in Soweto
- Hugh Masekela was born in KwaGuqa Township, Witbank, South Africa
- To Thomas Selena Masekela
- Who was a health inspector and sculptor
- And his wife, Pauline Bowers Masekela
- A social worker
- As a child, he began singing and playing piano
- He was largely raised by his grandmother
- Who ran an illegal bar for miners
- At the age of 14, after seeing the film Young Man with a Horn, Masekela took up playing the trumpet
- His first trumpet was bought for him from a local music store
- By Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, the anti-apartheid chaplain at St. Peter’s Secondary School now known as St. Martin’s School
- From 1954, Hugh Masekela played music that closely reflected his life experience
- The agony, conflict, and exploitation South Africa faced during the 1950s and 1960s inspired and influenced him to make music
- And also spread political change
- He was an artist who in his music vividly portrayed the struggles and sorrows
- As well as the joys and passions of his country
- His music protested about apartheid, slavery, government
- The hardships individuals were living
- Hugh Masekela reached a large population that also felt oppressed due to the country’s situation
- In 1958 there was a Manhattan Brothers tour of South Africa in 1958
- Hugh Masekela wound up in the orchestra of the musical King Kong
- Written by Todd Matshikiza
- King Kong was South Africa’s first blockbuster theatrical success
- Touring the country for a sold-out year
- With Miriam Makeba and the Manhattan Brothers’ Nathan Mdledle in the lead
- The musical later went to London’s West End for two years
- He released tons of compilations and singles throughout his career
- His autobiography was released in 2004
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