Jazz legend Masekela rallies big names to the cause at the Assupol Heritage Festival
|||BY HELEN HERIMBI
Last month, Hugh Masekela was honoured with the Legend Award at the 2016 MTV Africa Music Awards.
During his acceptance speech, he rapped. For a long time. It was cute and a comical capping off to what was a talking-to of sorts.You will, by now, know that Bra Hugh doesn’t suffer fools gladly. He also has an intense dislike for weaves. But a message he’s also been preaching of late, is beyond hair. It’s about heritage.
To paraphrase a line he likes to mention when speaking in public these days: one day in the future, when the children of this continent are asked who they are, they will remark that it is said they were once Africans.
It’s not surprising then that this month, Masekela will present a festival that puts who we are on centre stage. Called the Assupol Heritage Festival, the concert will take place in Soweto on Saturday. Veterans and young guns will share the stage.
Expect to see the likes of Ringo Madlingozi, Moonchild, Phuzekhemisi, Goodluck and DJs Kenzhero and Bob. Of course, Masekela will put on a show too. Heritage is important to Masekela. So much so, he started a foundation to preserve it.
As a press release explains: “An ideal integral to his music, it has inspired him to start the Hugh Masekela Heritage Foundation in an effort to restore the knowledge of (South) Africa’s past through extensive genealogy research of (South) African families. In an effort to help revive studies in the areas of indigenous manufacture of household goods in order to elevate African carpentry, construction, weaving, linen manufacture, design, stonemasonry, mosaics, art, traditional music, dance and sport, the award-winning artist hopes to use his global reach to spread the word about heritage restoration in Africa…”
The audience is encouraged to come no matter their age. There will be a pensioner’s discount of 50 percent off the ticket price and child-minding facilities so the whole family can tag along.
“I always look forward to festivals of this calibre, primarily due to their catalytic component in driving critical dialogue through a powerful medium such as music. My biggest obsession is to show Africans and the world who the people of Africa really are and it’s this ideal that has always propelled me forward since I first began playing the trumpet,” said Masekela.
Don’t miss Masekela and many more at this festival.
• Hugh Masekela’s Assupol Heritage Festival, Soweto Cricket Oval, Elkah Stadium, Saturday. Book at Computicket.