BusinessDay 09 Feb 2018

Friday 09 February 2018
30 BUSINESS DAY
C002D5556
Goodbye Hugh Masekela, legendary
South African jazz maestro
OBINNA EMELIKE
In 1968, music industry observers
and critics in the
United States of America
where amazed by the impressive
performance of
Hugh Masekela’s Grazing in the
Grass, which maintained number
1 US pop hit in the larger part of
that year.
The intrigue then was how an
African musician sustained such
a feat outside the shores of his
continent.
Of course, Hugh Masekela,
foremost South African jazz maestro,
continued showing strength,
creative ingenuity and influence
in global music scene until his
death on January 23, 2018 at 78
years.
The musician, who started his
musical education at the age of
five with piano, grew up becoming
a master of many trades and
master of many as well. He was
a composer, singer, trumpeter,
flugelhorn player, and mentor
among others.
However, Masekela was notable
for his activism against the
then apartheid regime in South
Africa, a noble cause he deployed
his music as veritable tool to create
awareness abroad and offer
support to the fight back home.
He was instrumental in the
forming of The Jazz Epistles,
the first African jazz group to
record an LP, aside performing
to record-breaking audiences in
Johannesburg and Cape Town
through late 1959 to early 1960.
His marriage to Mariam Makeba,
a singer and activist, in 1964
boosted his activism ad popularity
while at home, though the
marriage did not last.
In 1987, he composed and released
a hit titled, “Bring Him Back
Home”. The song was a further
call for the liberation of Nelson
Mandela, and it became an antiapartheid
anthem for the freedom
fighters in his country of birth.
Masekela was in exile while
still present and reigning at home
through his music, though he
was offered citizenship by several
other nations. His love for a
librated South Africa someday,
kept his hope alive, and was manifested
in 1990 when he returned
after almost 30 years in exile on
the occasion of the release of
Nelson Mandela, the political
prisoner and freedom fighter for
the black people in South Africa.
With three Grammy Award
nominations, over 40 albums,
and seven singles that maintained
top chart positions in the
United States of America and
Canada, aside many live concerts
and remarkable music campaigns;
Masekela has a successful
music career that spanned his
lifetime.
From Trumpet Africaine, his
first album in 1962 to No Borders,
his last work in 2016, Maskela was
truly an African music maestro as
he kept the tempo and creativity
high even in his old age.
Some of his notable singles include;
“Up-Up and Away”, “Grazing
in the Grass”, “Puffin’ On
Down the Track”, “Riot”, “Skokiaan”,
and “Don’t Go Lose It Baby”.
The legend waxed strong till
his last breadth. In 2016, Hugh
Masekela gave a superlative
performance at the Safaricom
International Jazz Festival in
Nairobi. He was billed to perform
at AFRIMA Awards 2017 in Lagos
where he was nominated for
three awards in the categories of
‘Best Male Artiste in Southern Africa’
for his recent single ‘Shango’,
‘Album of the Year’ for his recent
album ‘No Borders’ and for the
‘Best Artiste in African Jazz’.
It is obvious that Masekela’s
death is a huge loss to African
music. If you want to listen to
music that has depth, good lyrics
and matching instrumentation,
Masekela’s brand of jazz infused
with African themes and sound,
used to be the answer. With his
demise, the search for talents that
will fit into his big shoe is one hard
task because Masekela’s definitive
signature of African sound is rare.
The music icon will be greatly
missed but his music and struggle
for free and prosperous Africa
will always be in the hearts his
followers.
Masakela is survived by
Selema ‘Sal’ Masekela, a television
presenter (son) and Pula
Twala (a daughter).
Movie stars grace new Nollywood classic
From the best selling
cinema movies to the
low selling ones, Nollywood
movies are
often said to feature poor storylines.
However, ‘Just Before
I Do’ out, a new Nollywood
classic, is set to change the
narrative with a unique storyline,
plot twist, suspense and
effective characterisation.
The movie captures how a
conniving mother in-law becomes
the brain behind all
the mayhem an unmarried
couple experience and leaving
no trace whatsoever.
The movie is produced by
Omilani Oluyinka, new filmmaker.
Production has just been
concluded while post-production
is ongoing to ensure
that ‘Just Before I Do’ becomes
a blockbuster whose
narrative will continue to be
told for a long time.
The romantic drama stars
some of the brightest stars in
Nollywood like Judith Audu,
Omowunmi Dada, Prince Jide
Kosoko, Eddie Watson, Kalu
Ikeagwu, Shaffy Bello, Afeez
Oyetoro (Saka) and Omilani
Oluyinka himself among others.
The filmmaker who has
been directing stage plays at
Muson Center and other locations
across the country
decided to go beyond stage
and move into screens with
this new blockbuster. Having
directed many stage plays
with limited audience, it became
imperative for Oluyinka
to reach a larger base with a
message on the screen.
The behind the scenes pictures
from the just concluded
production has just been released
online while the teaser,
trailer, movie poster and
more will follow shortly.
The movie is set to be in
the cinemas soon.