Jazz legend, anti-apartheid activist Hugh Masekela to speak Oct. 14 at Lesley University
Posted August 6, 2010
Legendary trumpeter Hugh Masekela, one of the art world’s most significant anti-apartheid activists, will discuss “The Artist’s Role as Activist” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14 at Lesley University. The talk is free and open to the public.
Hugh Masekela
Masekela, known for his 1968 hit jazz instrumental “Grazing in the Grass” and 1987’s Nelson Mandela ode “Bring Him Back Home,” will discuss his life and music in the context of the anti-apartheid movement.
“Hugh Masekela’s commitment to South African music and arts served as an immeasurable force in the fight against apartheid,” said Vivien Marcow Speiser, dean of Lesley University’s Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences. “His popularity and his selfless approach to training and supporting other South African musicians combined to bring awareness and meaning to the struggle in his home country.”
Born into a racially segregated South Africa in 1939, Masekela took to music as a child and to the trumpet at age 14. He played in a series of brass and jazz bands before leaving an increasingly violent and volatile South Africa in 1960. He landed in New York City where he studied at The Manhattan School of Music from 1960-1964.
Masekela’s recording career began in 1962 with “Trumpet Africaine.” His 1968 single “Grazing in the Grass” went to number one on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, a rare move for an instrumental. The song was later nominated for a Grammy award. Masekela appeared at the 1967 Monterey International Pop Music Festival and recorded with The Byrds that same year. He would later record and tour with Paul Simon.
In 1972, as the world’s attention turned to South African apartheid, Masekela released “Home is Where the Music Is,” considered one of his finest albums. The record saw Masekela’s music shift from Americanized jazz-pop toward the sounds and rhythms of his native country. Allmusic Guide called the album “a stone spiritual soul-jazz classic.”
Masekela returned to Africa in 1981, moving to Botswana to work with musicians there. He released “Bring Him Back Home,” a popular tribute to Nelson Mandela, in 1987 and returned to South Africa in 1990, following Mandela’s release from prison. Apartheid ended as an official South African policy in 1994. Masekela remains a cultural icon in South Africa, most recently performing at the opening concert for the World Cup there.
This event is funded by the Strauch-Mosse Endowed Fund for Visiting Artists, established through a gift from Lesley University Trustee Hans Strauch, President of the Mosse Foundation. Masekela’s talk will correspond with Lesley University’s Artist and Activist Conference, a two-day event considering how the arts can be used in social action and as acts of courage and vision.
Masekela will lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14 at Lesley University’s Prospect Hall, 1801 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, Mass. RSVP to the event here. Prospect Hall is a short walk from the Porter MBTA station.