Sunday, January 28, 2018

SOUTH AFRICAN JAZZ TRUMPETER HUGH MASEKELA, 1939-2018

Keith Wine, a friend and work associate in Little Rock, but also a mentor in music, the history of Motown, the delta Blues, the Black Panthers and racism, introduced me to Hugh Masekela, a South African jazz trumpeter extraordinaire and political activist.

Masekela died January 23 from prostrate cancer.

Nena and I bought and played his records as well as those of his ex-wife, Miriam Makeba and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.  

When Masekela played at Little Rock's Robinson Auditorium in a revue with Chaka Kahn, we bought tickets.(For some reason, many African Americans dislike Chaka Kahn.  Fully a third of the audience departed when she was introduced.)

Paul Simon, in his Graceland Concert, played at Zimbabwe, Africa in 1987, included Masekela, Makeba and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, along with numerous African musicians.

Nena's favorite version of Hugh Masekela's Stimela (The Train Song) plays below:


1 comment:

  1. I want to see “the wall” built for one reason and one reason only ... it will not curb illegal immigration and I want to see this xenophobic, racist president eat crow.
    I want Mr. Trump to design and build it himself so that there will be no one else to blame when the immigration numbers do not change.

    I want a lasting impression of the big red-haired buffoon standing atop the wall with his stupid red ball cap and that obnoxious smirk on his face. Let’s build it and let’s put it to the test.
    In the meantime, I’m investing heavily in the exportation of twenty-foot ladders and drilling equipment.
    Neither walls nor bridges will detour the human spirit ... people will immigrate here legally and illegally as long as we provide the incentive of JOBS and the promise of a better tomorrow.
    So, bring your hard-hats and bottledwater everybody … we get to see the spoiled little rich kid throw away 20 billion of our dollars and maybe get his bitty little hands dirty, ... a real Kodak moment.
    Ramiro Ochoa, Santa Rosa

    ReplyDelete

𝗧𝗦𝗖 𝗕𝗢𝗔𝗥𝗗 𝗠𝗘𝗘𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗛𝗢𝗡𝗢𝗥𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗘𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗘 𝗥𝗨𝗕𝗘𝗡 𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗥𝗘𝗥𝗔

TSC Board of Trustees Thursday evening's Texas Southmost College Board of Trustees meeting at Gorgas Hall , the first since the passing...