June 6, 2006
By Ndaba Dlamini
MUSIC lovers, prepare for fireworks! Hugh Masekela, once described as a "versatile, superb arranger, musician and composer" by guitarist John Selolwane, is gearing up for the birthday of a lifetime when he performs for three days from Thursday, 8 June to Saturday, 10 June at the Market Theatre's Main Stage.
The three performances, marking the Market Theatre's 30th birthday, will be Masekela's first in South Africa following his three sell-out, back-to-back international tours of Europe, the United States and the Middle East. "This show is going to be cooking – after all, it's a birthday celebration!" he says.
In a review of Masekela's show on 1 April at London's Barbican, The Guardian described his live shows as "vital".
"Masekela is a commanding figure who knows how to work the crowd. Yet there is great timbral, melodic and emotional range in his programme, from the razor-sharp Afro-funk of The Boy to the rippling township hustle of Sangena. Like Dizzy Gillespie in his later years, Masekela sings and talks more than he blows, but whenever he puts flugelhorn to lips, he plays with concision and eloquence," writes John L Walters.
Masekela's band will feature Sello Montwedi and John Blackie Selolwane on drums, Oakantse Koketso, Hendrick Moliwa and Arthur Tshabalala on keyboards, Abednigo "Fana" Zulu on bass and Ngenekhaya Mahlangu on saxophone.
Masekela is expected to blow up a musical storm on his trumpet, which he learned to play in 1951 after watching the film Young Man With A Horn during school days at St Peter's Secondary School in Rosettenville. His mastery of the trumpet saw him hooking up with popular jazz groups like the African Jazz and the Merry Makers.
At the age of 19, Masekela recorded the first albums of African jazz with Jazz Epistles. In a bid to develop his musical prowess, he set off for the United States where he enrolled at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. During studies he met up with jazz legends Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie and Les McCann at New York's jazz clubs.
Unable to return to South Africa because of the political turmoil, Masekela played all over the US once his studies were complete. In 1968 he released a song Grazing In The Grass which catapulted him to stardom. In 1972 he returned to Africa and settled in Guinea, then Liberia and Ghana after recording the legendary Home Is Where Music Is with Dudu Pukwana.
In 1981, Masekela moved to Botswana where he started the Botswana International School of Music with Dr Khabi Mngoma. In 1985 he moved to England and while there co-wrote the musical Sarafina! with Mbongeni Ngema. He later hooked up with Paul Simon to play on the Graceland Tour.
Masekela finally returned to South Africa after the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990. In 1991, he launched his first sell-out tour of South Africa, called Sekunjalo - This Is It! with the bands Sankomota and Bayete.
After decades of playing music, Masekela remains unclassifiable because of the breadth of his scope.
"I'm the sum total of my influences: I don't categorise myself. Because I got into music as a child, I still have a very childlike approach to it. I'm just passionate and eclectic about it," he once told VH1.com.
Masekela will perform at the Market Theatre's Main Stage on 8, 9 and 10 June at 8pm. Tickets cost R130 and are available from Computicket.
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