HUGH MASEKELA

(SOUTH AFRICA)

Thursday 14 March, 2013

Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall

For one night only, as part of Auckland Arts Festival 2013, the 'High Priest of Afrobeat' and Grammy Award-winner Hugh Masekela will fill Auckland's Town Hall with glorious sound and Afro groove. In his first New Zealand visit with his own band, the legendary 73-year old Hugh will tell the story of South Africa with his trumpet, a story shaped by a lifetime of music and political activism.

Masekela is famous for bringing Afrobeat out of Africa and perhaps most familiar to New Zealanders for his appearances alongside Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Miriam Makeba and Paul Simon on the tour of Simon's Grammy-Award winning Graceland album. He honed his now signature sound in the late 1950s, most notably performing in the 1959 musical King Kong and as a member of the legendary South African group, the Jazz Epistles, with Kippie Moeketsi, Abdullah Ibrahim and Jonas Gwangwa.

Born in 1939 in Witbank, South Africa, Hugh began singing and playing piano as a child. He first laid his hands on a trumpet at age 14, while a scholar at St. Peter's, a Johannesburg boarding school run by missionaries. One of these was now legendary anti-apartheid campaigner, Father Trevor Huddleston, to whom Hugh said, "Father if you could get me a trumpet, I won't bother anybody anymore." He'd just seen the Kirk Douglas film Young Man With A Horn about American Jazz trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke.

At 21 Hugh left South Africa to begin what would be 30 years in exile from his country of birth and obtained a spot at the Manhattan School of Music. This coincided with the golden era of jazz as the young Masekela every night watched greats like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Mingus and Max Roach. Under the tutelage of Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong, Hugh was encouraged to develop his own unique style. He released his debut album, Trumpet Africaine, in 1963.

In 1967 Hugh performed at the Monterey Pop Festival alongside Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, Ravi Shankar, The Who and Jimi Hendrix. In 1968, his instrumental single Grazin' in the Grass went to Number One on the American pop charts and was a worldwide smash, elevating Hugh onto the international stage. His subsequent solo career has spanned five decades, during which time he has released over 40 albums and worked with such diverse artists as Harry Belafonte, Dizzy Gillespie, The Byrds, Fela Kuti, Marvin Gaye, Herb Alpert, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and the late Miriam Makeba.

In 1990 Hugh returned home, following the lifting of the ban on the African National Congress and the release of Nelson Mandela - an event anticipated in Hugh's anti-apartheid anthem Bring Home Nelson Mandela (1986) which had been a rallying cry around the world.

Masekela continues to maintain a very active tour schedule, spreading his musical message of peace, harmony and unity throughout the world. He can also be heard adding his distinctive voice and flugelhorn to many other world artists' recordings - from some of Bob Marley's earliest recordings to Buena Vista Social Club bassist Cachaito Lopez's 2001 solo record. His autobiography Still Grazing: The Musical Journey of Hugh Masekela was published in 2004.

Hugh Masekela will perform one show only on Thursday 14 March at Auckland's Town Hall.

www.aaf.co.nz

Hugh Masekela is a musician with a real soul. He has a genuine warm, charismatic, and simple way of building special relationships, both with his fellow musicians and with an audience - London Jazz

A fine display of singing, flugelhorn work and energetic dancing - remarkable for a man of 72 - The Guardian

When Masekela put the flugelhorn to his lips, his playing was as fluid and supple as his dance movements - theartsdesk.com

CONCERT DETAILS

Show Hugh Masekela

Where Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall

When Thursday 14 March, 8pm

Duration 1hr 30min no interval

Price Premium $77 / Friend/Conc/Group $71

A Res $65 / Friend/Conc/Group $59

B Res $53 / Friend/Conc/Group $48

C Res $35

Bookings Book at THE EDGE: www.buytickets.co.nz / 09 357 3355 / 0800 289 842

Group bookings: groups@the-edge.co.nz / 09 357 3354

Information www.aaf.co.nz

Social Media Facebook: facebook.com/Aklfestival

Twitter: @Aklfestival

Video http://www.hughmasekela.co.za/index.php/media-gallery/video-gallery

Media enquiries Siobhan Waterhouse, Publicist. P: +64 (0)9 374 0317 | M: +64 (0) 22 126  4149 | E: siobhan.waterhouse@aucklandfestival.co.nz

CREATIVE CREDITS

Flugelhorn, lead vocals: Hugh Masekela

Bass: Abednigo Zulu

Percussion: Francis Fuster

Guitar: Cameron Ward

Keyboards: Randal Skippers

Drums: Lee-Roy Sauls

By arrangement with Arts Projects Australia