Masekela cautioned against creeping violence among Ugandan musicians

When Hugh Masekela first performed in Uganda about 15 years ago, he got interviewed by the local media where he cautioned against the creeping violence among Ugandan musicians.
Noting that the mimicking of African-American gangster rap artistes violence was unAfrican and opposed to the spirit of Ubuntu (Obuntu Bulaamu)!
Masekela was a polished, cosmopolitan personality. For when exiled from South Africa by apartheid, he travelled the world, but residing mainly in the United States where he thrived, based on his resilience and experienced the fabled “from rags to riches” American Dream!
Born in 1939 in a middle class African family in Witbank, Masekela’s long association with jazz was initiated when at 14 years, he received a trumpet as a gift, from the famed African American jazz supremo, Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong.
This transaction was arranged by a famous family friend, Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, the iconic anti-apartheid campaigner.
By 1959, Masekela with Cape Townian Abdalla Ibrahim (Dollar Brand), formed the first African jazz band, The Jazz Epistles, to record an LP.
In the aftermath of the 1960 Sharpeville massacre, and Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress’s forming Umkhoto we Sizwe to launch their armed struggle, the apartheid regime clamped down. This forced Masekela, with Huddleston’s support, to flee to exile in London, where he joined the Guildhall School of Music.
Soon after, with African-American civil rights leader and calypso singer Harry Belafonte’s intervention, he secured a bursary to study jazz at New York’s Manhattan School of Music. And, in 1964, married fellow South African exiled musician Miriam Makeba.
Masekela’s musical success largely resulted from his focus, education and conscious decision to trace his Africanity in his music. A music of protest that reflected the struggles of his people in South Africa, against apartheid.
The Africanity of Masekela’s jazz, full of melody and rhythm, reflects in his 1968 number one United States Pop hit record, Grazing In The Grass! This sold a cool four million records, turning him into a global celebrity!
Masekela associated with progressive causes, including Muhammad Ali’s 1974, Kinshansa, Zaire’s famous, Rumble in the Jungle, fight where he performed with a number of celebrity artistes, who included his former wife Makeba and the King of Soul, James Brown.
Ever keen to self-improve, Masekela associated with key African musicians that included Congo’s legendery Le Grand Maitre Luambo Makiadi (Franco) and the Lagos-based Nigerian king of Afrobeat protest music, Fela Anikulapo-Ransome Kuti! He was a regular at Fella’s famed Shrine nightclub and indeed equally famous Kalakuta Republic home.
One of Masekela’s most moving song is Stimela (Coal train in Zulu/Xhosa). This recounts the apartheid era exploitation of migrant labour that serviced the mines of Johannesburg
Where in part he recounted: “There is a train that comes from….all the hinterland of Southern and Central Africa. This train carries young and old African men. Who are conscripted to come and work on contract in the golden mineral mines of Johnnesburg…, sixteen hours or more a day for almost no pay…”
Masekela, a regular in New York, had the gift of communicating effectively on stage in humorous small talk with his audience. An agile, talented performer and showman who acted, puffed and hissed, indeed sounded like a real Coal Train, on stage, of yesteryears, in the above mentioned song!
His other signature song was his 1987 release, “Bring Back Nelson Mandela”! In this, he demanded from the Boer regime the unconditional release of Mandela, so that he could freely walk hand in hand with his wife Winnie “…in the Streets of Soweto…!”
Masekela, like Makiadi, Fella and Makeba are African musical cultural institutions, who would be ashamed by the creeping violence among some of our young musicians. These should draw inspiration and emulate the former’s innumerable professional positive attributes.

Mr Kintu Nyago is a serving diplomat.
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