South African musician Hugh Masekela has been releasing albums of conscientious music since 1962. Of the many socio-political albums he’s released it is his 1968 album simply entitled Masekela that is the most powerful. It is a timeless proclamation about the constant struggles that face most resistance movements. iCrates took a closer look at the messages behind the music.
April 4, 1968 was undoubtedly one of the worst days in American history. At exactly 6:01 pm one of the greatest patriarchs of non-violent revolution was assassinated on the balcony of the Loarraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Martin Luther King Jr. was just 39 years old. On that same day the grammy award winning South African musician Hugh Masekela was celebrating his 29th birthday. In his 2004 autobiography, Still Grazing, Masekela describes that he was in no shape to truly accept the magnitude of this tragedy. In the book he confesses to his excessive indulgence of drugs and alcohol during the late 1960’s and on this particular day he admits he was snorting cocaine and smoking marijuana. He goes on to describe how many involved with the late 60’s revolutionary movements were not sober, “I stayed so high that I missed many historical events that were taking place right under my powdered nose”.
These disillusioned times also brought about some of the greatest protest music of the modern era. Later that year Hugh released his self titled album, Masekela. The album cover features a close up of Masekela staring off into the distance with a look of rage and dissent. This gripping image immediately sets the tone for what is without a doubt his most direct musical statement of resistance. The song titles by themselves speak volumes about the disenchanted revolutions that were occurring all across the globe.
In many ways the opening and closing tracks capture the universal sentiments of this period and all resistance movements both old and new. The opening track “Mace & Grenades,” comes out blazing with unapologetically boisterous horns and Masekela almost screaming the chorus, “I’m in jail out here.” It is a sentiment which captures the ongoing struggle of all revolutions where many people feel they’re are fighting a losing battle alone and unheard. This feeling of futility is further captured in the closing track “If There’s Anybody Out There.” An impassioned Masekela is pleading for a response when he sings, “’I'm screaming here from way down below; is this lovely lonely place we live in, where there’s a whole lot of jiving going on.” As he sings the title over and over again in the chorus, you truly do wonder is there anybody out there?
Hugh Maseleka – “Blues for Huey”
Martin Luther King Jr, was not the only prominent black leader who was taken away in 1968. The leader of the Black Panther Party, Huey P. Newton was wrongfully accused of killing a police officer and was sent to jail in September 1968. The “Free Huey” movement became a battle slogan against injustice and police brutality. Several musicians joined in the movement including Masekela who titled track five, “Blues for Huey.” The tight piano and bass lines create a somber undertone for the wrongful conviction of the Black Panther leader. In the world of popular black music, 1968 was also a year of recovery, following the death of one of the most dynamic soul singers of all time, Otis Redding, in a plane crash in December 1967. Masekela pays tribute to this fallen star in, “Otis.” It’s an instrumental number that features slow drags of the trumpet playing in memory of Redding.
Beyond these two tribute tracks you also have the fiery “Gold”, which addresses an issue that Masekela grew up with and has worked to fight against; the horrific conditions of South African gold and diamond miners. Masekela probes the irony that these lavish statements of wealth are unearthed by those who can barely afford to live with genuine anger, asking “Who takes the gold and where does it go?” and “When I have to go home empty handed after my contract is done, whose gold is this?” The gold mining controversy is something that Masekela is still impassioned by as evident in this 1986 performance of “Coal Train.”
The constant questioning that you hear in “Gold” and throughout the album is what makes Masekela an archetype of resistance music. It is a battle cry to stand up against the inequalities that pervade everyday life. Although the album came out in 1968, the same fire he sang about is what keeps modern day protest movements burning. Those in authority still respond to protest with “Mace and Grenades,” the heroes of resistance movements are still shot down, and slave mining still occurs on a daily basis. The substance of the album exemplifies these ongoing struggles and his look of uncertainty on the cover still makes you wonder when it will all end. Hugh Masekela was right, “Is Anybody Out There?”
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Check out more from Jack Bonney on his blog Bonneythekid.com.
