South African Statesman, Anti-Apartheid Activist, Trumpeter Hugh Masekela Dead At 78

Hugh Masekela
RIP
1939 | 2018

The founder of South African Jazz, an anti-apartheid activist and, as a result, a man decades in exile, Hugh Masekela pushed on into deeper waters. May the winds catch his every sail.

“Witch Doctor,” one of the greats in any genre, is below, as is “Grazing in the Grass,” “Stimela (Coal Train),” and “Mandela (Bring Him Back Home).”

Witch Doctor (2003)

Grazing in the Grass (1968)

Hugh Masekela and band performing Stimela (Coal Train) at the Freedom Beat festival, Clapham Common, 28 June 1986.

“Mandela (Bring Him Back Home),” at Paul Simon’s Graceland – The African Concert (Zimbabwe, 1987)

♥

Godspeed, dear brother!