Rio Loco - 13.17 juin 2012

Before jazz had a name and “world music” was a concept, a young trumpet player emerged from another
hemisphere and landed alongside some of the greatest icons in American music. Louis Armstrong sent him a trumpet. Harry Belafonte arranged for him to come to new York City to study music. Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis took him under their wings. That man, Hugh Masekela, born out of apartheid South Africa , has consistently toured worldwide and his genre-bending dynamism has led to his own icon status.
In england, Hugh conceived the broadway musical “Sarafina” with Mbongeni ngema and recorded another runaway song “Bring Back Nelson Nandela Bring Him Back Home to Soweto” with Kalahari in 1986. After touring in “Graceland” with Paul Simon, Lady black Mambazo and Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela returned home following the un-banning of political parties and the release of nelson Mandela in 1990. In 1991, he launched his first tour of South Africa called “Sekunjalo This is it” with Sankomota and bayete; it
was a four-month tour, selling out in the country’s major cities. his recent albums “Black to the Future” and sixty have both gone platinum. He uses his position to give a platform to a fresh generation of South African talent, some of whom will be playing in his band on tour.
In the last years Hugh Masekela toured the USA, Europe, Asia and his home country extensively. Numerous new recordings and some remixes of his most succesful cds were released – just to name a few –
2005 – Revival – 2006 The Chissa Years – 2006 Sixty – 2007 Grazing in the Grass: Best of – 2007 Live at the Market Theatre. In summer 2007, Masekela embarked on a tour of the United States and Canada in support of the live recording, "Hugh Masekela: Live at the Market Theatre", touring with most of the band mates that supported his highly regarded album, "Uptownship". Since October 2007 he is a Board Member of the Woyome Foundation (THE WOYOME FOUNDATION FOR AFRICA (WOFA) is an International Charity Foundation registered in Ghana with a strategic thrust of launching a new offensive in the fight against HIV/AIDS.).