South African trumpeter and musician Hugh Masekela performs on May 13, 2012.
The legendary South African jazz musician and anti-apartheid activist Hugh Masekela died Jan. 23 in Johannesburg. He was 78.
Masekela had a special meaning to us at The World. He was embedded in the fabric of the show — in the early days, whenever we had a technical problem, we would play his song “Uptownship” while we figured out what was wrong. Hearing that song still makes us nervous.
But more than that, the way Masekela lived his life — mixing diverse influences, moving between borders, embracing joy while speaking out about injustice — is a metaphor for what we strive for here on our show.
Our host, Marco Werman, had the honor of interviewing Masekela on numerous occasions.
In this wide-ranging interview from May 28, 1999, Marco spoke to Masekela about his musical inspirations, his life, his family and his devotion to South Africa. We hope you enjoy it.
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.