PHOTO NJPAC: Hugh Masekela
In Honor of Mandela. Sunday, April 6 at 2pm & 7pm
Victoria Theater
Legendary South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela (“Grazing in the Grass”) returns to NJPAC with a celebratory 75th Birthday Tour in honor of Nelson Mandela.
An innovator in the world music and jazz scenes, Masekela is also a renowned performer, composer and activist who was integral to Paul Simon’s Graceland tour, which introduced African music to a wider public. Among the many artists who have recorded or collaborated with Masekela are Miriam Makeba, Dizzy Gillespie, Harry Belafonte, Herb Alpert, and Fela Kuti. He has provided music for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and co-created the hit Broadway show Sarafina, which brought South African music into theaters around the globe. During the 1980s, Masekela’s song “Bring Him Back Home” became an anthem for the Free Nelson Mandela movement.
Masekela was deeply affected by his experiences in apartheid South Africa and made music that reflected the harsh political climate there during the 1950s and 1960s. When he returned home in the 1990s, after spending many years in the U.S. honing his talents, he renewed his musical ties to the sounds and rhythms of Central and West Africa, particularly the mbaqanga style. Songs of Migration, his theatrical tribute to the songs of migrants across the African continent, was staged at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC
Each performance will be approximately 90 minutes long.
Tickets: $55. Purchase tickets HERE
A special VIP package ($99) includes best seats in the house, a post-performance meet-and-greet with the artist and an autographed Hugh Masekela CD.
Part of the the World Music Series sponsored by American Express.
