South African Musician Hugh Masekela celebrates 75th birthday

World Today

South African musician Hugh Masekela recently celebrated his 75th birthday with a special performance in New York City. He started playing the trumpet when he was 14. But it was in New York that his career really took off in the 1960s after leaving South Africa.

He celebrated his birthday with a little help from some old friends – Paul Simon and Harry Belafonte – in the city where he began what turned out to be a 30-year exile from his homeland. Introducing Simon near the end of Friday night’s concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater in New York, US, Masekela noted that millions of people “who had never heard of South Africa before were just charmed and turned around by the album he made” in 1986, Graceland, which won Grammys for Album and Record of the Year. CCTV’s Nick Harper met up with the Masekela in New York.

Hugh Masekela celebrates 75th birthday

outh African musician Hugh Masekela recently celebrated his 75th birthday with a special performance in New York City. He started playing the trumpet when he was 14. But it was in New York that his career really took off in the 1960s after leaving South Africa. CCTV's Nick Harper reports.