Bra Hugh’s trumpet blast rings on
• Masekela described as a masterpiece Africa was fortunate to have
Hugh Masekela — known respectfully by most as Bra Hugh — was diagnosed with cancer in 2008 and responded like the lifelong activist he was. He educated others about prostate cancer and for years, fought the good fight. He died on Tuesday at the age of 78.
He made his debut as a trumpet player in the golden age of South African jazz. As a youngster, one of his best friends was Sophiatown trumpet player Stompie Manana, who took him to see the film Young Man with a Horn. It is the story of trumpet player Bix Beiderbecke and starred Kirk Douglas and Doris Day, with the trumpet parts played by Harry James.
It inspired Masekela to play. As a teenager, he had a major breakthrough when the godfather of trumpet entertainers, Louis Armstrong, responded to an advert in Drum magazine calling for a new trumpet for the young Masekela. Armstrong donated a trumpet and Anglican cleric Trevor Huddleston arranged to collect it from him in Ghana.
This golden era of South African jazz was typified by the 1,4,5 musical style of marabi music. Musicians played clubs for many hours at a time and needed to be consistent in the rhythm and tempo to keep people dancing through the night. Masekela maintained this ability to entertain, playing in a variety of styles and collaborations all over the world.
His exile to New York in the 1960s exposed him to the most famous trumpet player of the era. Miles Davis discouraged him from playing jazz and told him to play his African music. On Masekela’s seminal 1960s album, The Americanisation of Ooga-Booga, he presents a mixture of Brazilian, African and American compositions. These regions remained strong influences throughout his career.
He was a champion antiapartheid activist. His musical talent gained him a substantial following across the world, which he used to speak out and fight against apartheid.
His friendship and marriage with Miriam Makeba formed a large part of his life and career.
She referred to him as “Little Hughey” in her autobiography because he was several years younger and implied he was always envious of her success. Their marriage broke up after only two years, but they remained collaborators for years until his tell-all autobiography, Still Grazing.
Masekela co-produced Makeba’s 1980s albums with Stanley Todd and 1990s albums with Victor Masondo.
His song Soweto Blues spoke of the 1976 youth protest and was adapted by Makeba for her stage repertoire. Stimela was one of the most famous Masekela compositions, a lament for migrant mine workers longing for their homes.
Masekela met Fela Kuti in Nigeria in the 1970s and they inspired each other to make unique music. Fela went to Ghana and started playing Highlife music at the Afro Spot, which led to Afrobeat music.
Masekela recorded several of his albums in Ghana in the 1970s. There are recordings he made all over the world that may never be found such was the extent of his work.
When the Muhammad Ali/ George Foreman Rumble in the Jungle fight went to what was then Zaire, Masekela teamed up with his lifetime friend Stewart Levine and approached boxing promoter Don King for the rights to organise a concert. James Brown and Gladys Knight and the Pips were some of the artists who Masekela flew out from the US for the show. The album featuring the African artists for that show — Zaire 74 — has just been released.
As a performer and entertainer, his combination of dancing and playing alongside a tightly knit band became his recipe for success. He combined good musicianship with a focused entertainment element and that resulted in strong audience reception.
After apartheid collapsed and he returned from exile in 1990, Masekela began to form an evolving South African band. A long-standing member is bass player Bra Fana Zulu. It also features Cameron Ward on guitar and Leeroy Sauls on drums among others. They have made one recent album, Playing at Work.
In the 1990s, he lectured in the music department at the University of Kwa Zulu-Natal. His influence on young African trumpet players is huge.
Masekela was a master of the trumpet tongue-ing technique — fast, sharp and strongly articulate. His phrasing, style and approach were unique. When he transferred this style to flugelhorn, he created a distinct and recognisable style.
Young Nigerian trumpet player Etuk Ubong, who has known Masekela since 2010, once had to call on Masekela to rescue him from the police at the airport. He had been arrested for carrying trumpet valve oil. Masekela came in to speak to the officer and bailed him out. That was the last time Ubong saw Masekela.
“Hugh Masekela is one prolific figure like a masterpiece that we were gifted to have had in Africa, Ubong says. “He has influenced a lot of people to appreciate culture and stand for the life of the black people.
“He has reflected African culture and African ways to the world to make it of equal standard. He has portrayed Africa as a good nation and continent.”
As a trumpet player, Masekela is “the beginning and the end”, says young trumpet player Lwanda Gogwana.
As a musician and entertainer, Masekela knew how to get attention from crowds, because he would dance with them. Sometimes he would play the cowbell or tell stories.
For the band to keep focus was a discipline. “He was a teacher to all his musicians and strict about staying true to the music,” says Gogwana. “He got very upset with people who tried to be experimental. He was true to his listeners.”
Masekela often had a very busy schedule. He sometimes played two gigs a night and only slept for four hours while performing 10 double gigs in a row.
When he turned 70, he went on a world tour starting at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival. He played the Hollywood Bowl, Japan, Australia and the US. One of his last appearances was at the Bushfire Festival in Swaziland last May.
His career was long and consistent. Saxophonist Barney Rachabane points out that he sustained it because he was an athlete and did tai chi.
Masekela has accumulated a lifetime’s worth of recognition for his artistic and activist contributions from heads of states to his ardent grassroots fans.
Prominent among his achievements are being granted a Gold Medal of the Order of Ikhamanga in 2010 by the South African Presidency, and having March 18 proclaimed Hugh Masekela Day in the US Virgin Islands. He received an honorary doctorate in music from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2017 and implored young graduates to become the new pioneers of African heritage restoration.
“We have long relegated our magnificent vernacular literature to the dust and insectinfested floors of crumbling old warehouses in favour of imported writings, hip hop, rap and other forms of trending fashions that distance us as far as possible from our rich traditional legacy,” he told the audience at Wits.
“We need to study, learn and teach our traditional music, dance, oral literature more in our own academies and educational institutions where we can revive and redevelop what has been lost from the positive content of our glorious history.”