RIP Hugh Masekela



I saw him at Glastonbury in 1985. It pissed down most of the time and I was standing up to my ankles in mud when Hugh came on stage in the early afternoon. He played his wonderful, soulful and complex music, and then suddenly the sun came out and shone on his trumpet and it was like the mighty spirit in the sky had turned a spotlight on him. Literally awesome....it took my breath away.
He was a great player and a great man. RIP.
 
MickeyV said:
I saw him at Glastonbury in 1985. It pissed down most of the time and I was standing up to my ankles in mud when Hugh came on stage in the early afternoon. He played his wonderful, soulful and complex music, and then suddenly the sun came out and shone on his trumpet and it was like the mighty spirit in the sky had turned a spotlight on him. Literally awesome....it took my breath away.
He was a great player and a great man. RIP.
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I'm sure I've told this true story on here before.

I saw Hugh at the International (birthplace of the Stone Roses) in Manchester the week after Glastonbury in 85. Because I knew him, I had a backstage pass. After the amazing gig, a couple of Mancunian lads asked if I could get them in to see Hugh. So I did. They were Mick Hucknall and Tim Kellett (Simply Red trumpet player). They'd just been on the Whistle Test a couple of weeks earlier, and a journo backstage recognized Mick asked if he could do a quick interview. Mick introduced me to the journo as Simply Red's drummer. A couple of weeks later, there I was, mentioned in Smash Hits.
 
Monty Pigeon said:
I'm sure I've told this true story on here before.

I saw Hugh at the International (birthplace of the Stone Roses) in Manchester the week after Glastonbury in 85. Because I knew him, I had a backstage pass. After the amazing gig, a couple of Mancunian lads asked if I could get them in to see Hugh. So I did. They were Mick Hucknall and Tim Kellett (Simply Red trumpet player). They'd just been on the Whistle Test a couple of weeks earlier, and a journo backstage recognized Mick asked if he could do a quick interview. Mick introduced me to the journo as Simply Red's drummer. A couple of weeks later, there I was, mentioned in Smash Hits.
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Is it ok for you to tell us how you knew him please?
 
Stevie Freestein II said:
Is it ok for you to tell us how you knew him please?
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I mentioned it earlier in the thread. I met him at the Woodpecker Inn outside Gaborone, Botswana, in 1982 when he was recording Techno-Bush in a mobile studio in the car park. He gave me his address when he moved to London and we exchanged letters for several years. I got involved in his anti-apartheid group, and met Trevor Huddleston a couple of times at meetings at Hugh's place. After the end of apartheid, Hugh returned to SA and I always made a point of looking him up - or at least chatting on the phone - when I passed through Joburg. On form he was an incredible person to know. But he also went through the odd bad patch with drugs and alcohol, and I saw that side of him too.
 
Monty Pigeon said:
I mentioned it earlier in the thread. I met him at the Woodpecker Inn outside Gaborone, Botswana, in 1982 when he was recording Techno-Bush in a mobile studio in the car park. He gave me his address when he moved to London and we exchanged letters for several years. I got involved in his anti-apartheid group, and met Trevor Huddleston a couple of times at meetings at Hugh's place. After the end of apartheid, Hugh returned to SA and I always made a point of looking him up - or at least chatting on the phone - when I passed through Joburg. On form he was an incredible person to know. But he also went through the odd bad patch with drugs and alcohol, and I saw that side of him too.
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Cheers for the insight Monty, really appreciated.
 
waddy999 said:
Cheers for the insight Monty, really appreciated.
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For anyone unfamiliar with his music, I urge them to listen to the 17-minute version of Coal Train (Stimela) on Spotify. I've always said that he is (now was) one of the greatest musicians of all time - and that live recording in particular is definitive proof.
 

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