To mark the 75th birthday of world-renowned music legend, Hugh Masekela, the University of Johannesburg (UJ), in partnership with the wRite Associates, will host the first inaugural Hugh Masekela Annual Lecture and Concert.
The lecture will be held at UJ’s Soweto Campus on Tuesday, 9 September and the concert at the Soweto Theatre on Wednesday, 10 September 2014.
Oliver Mtukudzi, internationally acclaimed award–winning singer-songwriter, guitarist and heritage activist, will deliver the inaugural lecture.
The Hugh Masekela Lecture will be complemented by the Hugh Masekela Music Dialogue/Master Class Workshops on 9 September and the Masekela and Mtukudzi Boutique Concert on 10 September.
Born on 4 April 1939 at Kwaguqa in Witbank, Hugh Masekela has been part of South Africa’s and Africa’s music scene since the 50s, and remains one of the world’s distinctive voices in the popular music and jazz genres.
At age 14, after seeing the film Young Man with a Horn (in which Kirk Douglas plays a character modeled after American jazz cornetist Bix Beiderbecke), Masekela started playing a trumpet donated to him by the anti-apartheid activist, Archbishop Trevor Huddleston.
As part of the Huddleston Jazz Band, in his teens, Masekela together with Dollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim), Kippie Moeketsi, Johnny Gertze and Makhaya Ntshoko formed the Jazz Epistles.
Following the 21 March 1960 Sharpeville Massacre, Masekela left the country and later enrolled at the Manhattan School of Music in New York where he studied classical trumpet from 1960 to 1964.
In exile, Hugh Masekela, alongside Miriam Makeba, Dorothy Masuku, Jonas Gwangwa and others, played a major role in using the arts as an instrument of protest against the injustices and human rights abuses of apartheid South Africa.
“Bra Hugh’s iconic status as a musical, arts and human rights activist in Africa and the world remains inspiring and worthy of the celebration in South African and beyond,” said Mr Morakabe Seakhoa, the Managing Director of the wRite associates and Project Director of the Hugh Masekela Annual Lecture and Colloquia.
Seakhoa said the Hugh Masekela at 75 celebration aims to create a platform for heritage, cultural, academic, art, and social discourse to celebrate, as well as reflect on Masekela’s philosophy, work and contribution to South Africa’s liberation and socio-economic betterment.”
The lecture is open to the public but confirmation is essential due to limited space. For confirmation, please send your name and surname by SMS to 0784368703 or email info@writeassociates.co.za.
For the concert, tickets at R250.00 are available at the Soweto Theatre website. www.sowetotheatre.co.za (please note space is limited)
For more information, visit: www.writeassociates.co.za or www.uj.ac.za or www.sowetotheatre.co.za
