Hugh Masekela’s 80th birthday celebrated

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By Ade Omoloja

The Jazz Cafe in London in the company of Nigerian trumpet extraordinaire - Etuk Ubong celebrated what would have been legendary jazz trumpeter - Hugh Masekela’s 80th birthday. The concert was held in partnership with the Africa Centre.

A leading figure in the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa and “the father of South African jazz”, Masekela was one of the world’s most distinctive horn players, whose performing on trumpet and flugelhorn mixed jazz with South African styles and music from across the African continent and diaspora.

Having issued more than 40 albums across his career, his final one was No Borders, in 2016.

Among his many awards was South Africa’s highest, the Order of Ikhamanga.