Masekela spent six years exploring music in Senegal, Zaire, Guinea, Nigeria and Ghana. In Ghana, Fela Kuti hooked him up with Hedzolleh Sounds, a highlife fusion band with whom Masekela returned to the US and recorded what some critics consider his best records.

In 1980, Masekela joined Miriam Makeba to play for 100,000 in Lesotho, and four years later he established a mobile studio in Botswana and recorded Technobush, an mbaqanga/funk fusion album featuring the Soul Brothers. When controversy stirred around the Graceland tour as a violation of the ANC\'s cultural boycott, Masekela, a participant, defended Paul Simon vigorously. Masekela\'s 1987 song \"Bring Him Back Home\" became the theme for Nelson Mandela\'s world tour following his release from prison in 1992. Masekela now lives in South Africa, though he travels often to perform and record.">

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Hugh Masekela

Southern Africa

South Africa

South African trumpeter and bandleader Hugh Masekela is an Afropop legend--one of the first African artists to break into U.S. pop radio, and still a major player today. Read more on Hugh Masekela...

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