Ramapolo Hugh Masekela flicorno, voce
Abednigo Sibongiseni Zulu basso
Francis Manneh Edward Fuster percussioni, voce
Cameron John Ward chitarra, voce
Johan Wilem Mthethwa tastiere, voce
Lee-Roy Sauls batteria, voce
si ringrazia l’Ambasciata del Sudafrica in Italia
Trumpeter, flugelhornist and vocalist Hugh Masekela, together with pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, is the emblem of the large-scale relationship South Africa early established with jazz. Born in 1939 in Witbank, near Johannesburg, he grew up to the music of Armstrong, Ellington and Glenn Miller. He soon began to lead his own groups, collaborating with Ibrahim (then known as Dollar Brand). In the ’60s he was in the US: with Harry Belafonte and Miriam Makeba (who was his wife for a short time), Masekela successfully dedicated to easy listening while still maintaining a strong jazzy temperament and a taste for South African rhythm: a sort of “proto-world music”. After the US number one smash Grazin’ in the Grass (1968), he returned to Africa, finally moving back home with the end of apartheid.
