The trumpeter is 70 years old this month. He has a new album, Phola, and as is clear from an interview with a South African newspaper, he still has opinions:
‘… When we turn to speak about the local [South African] arts scene, Masekela says culture is in recession. His postmortem report is terse: “The arts are dead.” I point out that local publishing is vibrant, community halls are abuzz as hip-hop MCs battle one another and spoken-word poets rhyme, Ladysmith Black Mambazo just won a Grammy and, a few years ago, the movie Tsotsi won an Oscar. “The Grammy they won is not from here,” he says coldly. “They just come here to change clothes. They have the odd corporate gig … Miriam [Makeba] wasn’t here when she died. Abdullah [Ibrahim] is never here.”…’
Filed under: Music , Abdullah Ibrahim, film, Hugh Masekela, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Miriam Makeba, Music, South African jazz, South African music, The Grammys, Tsotsi
