Hugh Masekela – Ghetto Blaster

Friday, October 22, 2010

Who better to ask than Hugh Masekela, who plays the London Jazz Festival this month, about how he sees South Africa today as memories of the world cup recede? The great musician, an inspiration in the cultural and political struggle against apartheid, continues to fight against the exploitation of the poor and the danger big business poses to the future of the planet.

Masekela talks tough to Marcus O’Dair.

"To me,” says Hugh Masekela of the sporting spectacle that recently focused the eyes of the world upon his country’s football stadia, “the international perception, the media perception, is very Marie Antoinette. Let them eat football, and everything will be OK. But that’s not how life works, not after 400 years of turmoil and conflict in South Africa. The country cannot eat football. It was great: the mood was fantastic, it was the best time I think South Africans had ever been together. It’s over now and we’re back to square one.”

His words, delivered – from under a flat cap and over a cognac – on the verandah of an Islington hotel, come not even a month after the end of the World Cup. Yet while international visitors flew home the moment the vuvuzelas fell silent, life for South Africans continues as before. Masekela doesn’t even agree that his country will benefit from improvements in infrastructure brought about in anticipation of the tournament.

This is an extract from Jazzwise Issue #147 – to read the full article click here to subscribe and receive a FREE CD...

 

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