Hugh Masekela began playing trumpet as a teenager in South Africa, receiving his first instrument from anti-apartheid activist and priest Trevor Huddleston, before joining influential South African jazz groups during the 1950s.
Masekela left South Africa in 1960 with the help of Yehudi Menuhin and Harry Belafonte, going into exile as apartheid intensified, and built an internationally successful jazz career while remaining a vocal advocate against the South African regime.
In 1968, Masekela released 'Grazing in the Grass', which became a major international hit, and his music throughout his exile years became inseparably associated with the global anti-apartheid movement, performing at benefit concerts and using his platform consistently against the regime.
Masekela returned to South Africa following the end of apartheid, continuing an active musical career until his death in 2018, remembered as one of the defining musical voices of the anti-apartheid struggle and one of Africa's most significant jazz musicians.
- Released "Grazing in the Grass" (1968), a major international hit
- Became one of the defining musical voices of the global anti-apartheid movement
- Built an internationally acclaimed jazz career while in exile from South Africa
- Performed at numerous benefit concerts advocating against apartheid
- Widely regarded as one of Africa's most significant jazz musicians
- Art can become inseparable from political struggle. His music and anti-apartheid advocacy became fundamentally intertwined throughout his exile.
- Exile can produce international artistic reach. His displacement from South Africa built a truly global audience for both his music and message.
- A single hit can extend a platform for sustained advocacy. His international success gave him a larger stage for his anti-apartheid message.
- Return after struggle validates decades of sustained commitment. His post-apartheid return to South Africa completed a full circle of exile and advocacy.