Legendary Jazz musician is dead

jonathan

January 23, 2018 9:07 AM

The "Father of South African Jazz' has passed away, after a battle with prostrate cancer.

Legendary musician

According to a statement by the family, Masekela died "After a protracted and courageous battle with prostate cancer. He passed peacefully in Johannesburg, South Africa surrounded by his family."

Masekela was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer and singer. He is considered the "father of South African jazz." Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and for writing well-known anti-apartheid songs such as "Soweto Blues" and "Bring Him Back Home". He is the father of American television host Sal Masekela.

Battle With Prostate Cancer

Hugh’s battle with the illness has been public knowledge for a long time. The musician's team released a statement in October, 2017, saying he had been battling prostate cancer since 2008.

The statement explained that the jazz veteran underwent eye surgery in March 2016, after the cancer spread, and had to go into theatre again in September 2016 as another tumour was discovered.

In December, Masekela’s manager, Andrew Josh Georgiou told local media house, TshisaLIVE, that "he was fighting the disease with everything he had."

Legacy

Bra Hugh was born in KwaGuqa township in Witbank and began singing and playing the piano as a child.

After seeing the film Young Man with a Horn when he was 14, Masekela began playing the trumpet. His first trumpet was given to him by Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, an anti-apartheid chaplain at St. Peter's Secondary School.

He soon mastered the instrument and by 1956 joined Alfred Herbet's African Jazz Revue. Bra Hugh's music was inspired by the turmoil that South Africa went through during apartheid and he said it was used as a weapon to spread political change.

Condolences have poured in from all over the world, with Femi Kuti, describing him as a "father to me."

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jonathan