Press Release
Hugh Masekela will celebrate his 75th birthday on April 4th in New York City with a concert performance at Lincoln Center for their Jazz At Lincoln Center series, with featured guests Paul Simon and Sibongile Khumalo.
In addition the ageless Masekela will be releasing his latest music video, “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”. Taken from latest album “Playing At Work”.
The video is a unique township mbaqanga take on the Bob Dylan classic. It is also a moving tribute to Bra Hugh’s lifetime friend, and legendary South African photographer Alf Kumalo. The video features never-before-seen footage of Bra Alf Kumalo, at work in his darkroom and shooting street scenes in Alexandra Township.
The video also includes an incredible montage of some of Bra Alf’s most iconic pictures spanning the last 50 years of world and South African history – a dizzying array of images that capture some of the most important moments and icons in our country, and the world’s, history. As well as striking photographs of the ordinary men and women who crossed Bra Alf’s path.
Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Oliver Tambo, Robert Sobukwe, Steve Biko, Ruth First, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Father Trevor Hudddleston, Miriam Makeba, and Muhammad Ali are all featured in private and public moments, at ease in the eye of Bra Alf’s lens.
The most telling part of the music video is a picture of a young 16-year old Hugh Masekela leaping in the air, clutching the trumpet that had been sent to him by Louis Armstrong. This iconic image became the starting point of a life-long friendship between the two young men, both of whom went on to change the world in their respective ways.
The video was directed by Brett Rubin alongside cinematographer Robert Wilson, art director Nicole Van Heerden and editor Tom Glenn. The video was produced by House of Masekela in association with Vatic, and is endorsed by the family and estate of Alf Kumalo.
Watch Video:
It’s All Over Now Baby Blue
Watch the Lincoln Center Performance:
Friday: https://new.livestream.com/jazz/hughmasekela44
Saturday: https://new.livestream.com/jazz/hughmasekela45
Alf Kumalo
A Tribute by Hugh Masekela
Drum magazine was founded through the genius of Jim Bailey, an extremely non-conformist and unconventional young white entrepreneur who had identified a colossal void in South Africa’s publishing industry. Bailey realized that there was a growing urban African township generation which had begun to celebrate music, glamour, cinema, fashion and sports; an indigenous population that was deep into political resistance, ethnic pride, upward mobility and the scandal and gossip that comes with it.
The cover of Drum always featured a stunning African woman in a revealing swimsuit. South Africa’s first non-white film star, singer Dolly Rathebe sporting a flimsy bikini was what got the magazine flying off the newsstands…
