WOMEX 11 Guide

SpotlightQuébecThe WOMEX 11 Artist Award to Hugh MasekelaBy Colin Bass (UK/Germany) | Musician, ProducerMusique folk de chez nousVisit us atStand B17WOMEX Award CeremonySunday 12:00 – 14:00Koncerthuset/Studio 2© Chris Saundersf r i d a y28/10f r i d a y28/10Saturday29/10f r i d a y28/10ÉLAGE DIOUFStudio 2 offWOMEXShowtime: 21:15-22:00elagediouf.comLES CHARBONNIERSDE L’ENFERStudio 2 offWOMEXShowtime: 22:45-23:30lescharbonniersdelenfer.comLE VENT DU NORDFoyer Stage 1Showtime: 00:00-00:45leventdunord.comCOCKTAILTime: 16:30At Stand B17It’s been nearly 60 years since Hugh Masekela firstpicked up a trumpet, and we can all rejoice that heshows no sign of putting it down yet. The emblematicfigure of South African music has indeed become anelder statesman, revered and respected for his fightagainst the iniquities of apartheid and his tirelesschampioning of his country’s rich and diverse culturalheritage. But, as his commitment, energy and constantquest to refine his musical language show, he is also stillthe young lion who pioneered new directions in SouthAfrican jazz in the late’50s.As a young boy he soaked up a wide variety of soundsfrom his environment – the streets, the churches,the playground and the family gramophone – andshowed talent on piano and singing. As legend nowhas it, the chance catalyst that really set him on hispath was the unlikely alliance of the chaplain of hishigh school, the anti-apartheid campaigner TrevorHuddleston, and Hollywood film star Kirk Douglas.The 14-year old Masekela saw Douglas starring inYoung Man With a Horn – a film biopic loosely basedon the jazz trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke, with the puretones of Harry James dubbing the soundtrack – andwas smitten enough to persuade Huddleston to givehim a trumpet. By the end of the decade, his bandThe Jazz Epistles was playing to packed houses inJohannesburg and Cape Town.In 1960, the absurd conceit of apartheid and theincreasingly brutal oppression required to keep it inplace, spawned the massacre at Sharpeville where 69protesters were shot dead by police. A clampdownfollowed, the minority intensified their subjugation ofthe majority. Gatherings of more than 10 people wereprohibited. By good fortune, Masekela was helpedout of the country by Huddleston, whose friendsYehudi Menuhin and John Dankworth arranged forhim to be brought to study at the Guildhall Schoolof Music in London. It was to prove a short sojourn,as he soon received a summons he could not refuse.Miriam Makeba, already an artist-in-exile since 1959,urged him to join her in the USA, where she andHarry Belafonte would organise a place for him at theManhattan School of Music. He arrived in New Yorkat the height of the Nixon-Kennedy presidential raceand was impressed by the vitality of political debate,although it should be remembered that, at the time,racial discrimination was also enmeshed in the socialfabric of American society and that the major strugglesof the civil rights movement were yet to materialise.The Manhattan School of Music provided him witha classical education in trumpet, composition andchoral singing, and New York provided him with anentrée into the heart of a golden age of jazz. Makebaintroduced him to one of his idols, Dizzy Gillespie, whoo n lo c at i o nWomeX Artist aWardfolquebec.com43