Music
Before the Internet: 10 African Songs That Went Global the Old-Fashioned Way
From "Mbube" to "7 Seconds": 10 African songs that went global before the internet, sold millions and crossed…
Hugh Masekela
Music
Orlando Julius: the Nigerian saxophonist who fused highlife with soul
Orlando Julius Ekemode, a saxophonist and bandleader from Ekiti, blended highlife, juju and American soul in the 1960s,…
Music
Jonas Gwangwa: the trombonist who scored Cry Freedom and led the ANC’s cultural army
Jonas Gwangwa was a founding member of the Jazz Epistles in the 1950s, led the ANC's Amandla cultural…
Arts + Culture
Hugh Masekela came to Accra looking for a band. Hedzoleh Soundz became his partners on a 1973 classic
In the early 1970s, the South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela, living in exile, travelled to West Africa and…
Arts + Culture
An exiled South African trumpeter had America’s number one song in 1968. The story of “Grazing in the Grass”
In July 1968, Hugh Masekela's instrumental "Grazing in the Grass" went to number one on the Billboard Hot…