Hugh Masekela pays tribute to

Teenagers ​ ​Hugh Masekela and ​Jonas Gwangwa​, who​ formed the Huddleston Jazz Band​, with Father Huddleston in​ 1954.

Hugh Masekela pays tribute to Trevor Huddleston at London gala evening

Father Trevor Huddleston, priest, human rights activist, and leader in the anti-apartheid movement, provided Masekela with his first trumpet as a 14 year old pupil in South Africa. In this special event in London, Masekela reflects on his life and Huddleston’s legacy and plays music from his outstanding career.

Hugh Masekela pays tribute to

Teenagers ​ ​Hugh Masekela and ​Jonas Gwangwa​, who​ formed the Huddleston Jazz Band​, with Father Huddleston in​ 1954.

At the age of 75, after six decades as a musician, Hugh Masekela will pay a special tribute to the man who started him off on his journey 61 years ago — Father Trevor Huddleston.

Huddleston, priest, human rights activist, and leader in the anti-apartheid movement, provided Masekela with his first trumpet as a 14 year old pupil in South Africa and soon after the ‘Huddleston Jazz Band’ was formed, sparking a career of untold proportions across the globe.

Masekela is giving the Father Huddleston Memorial Lecture at a special event in central London on 17 June to mark the end of Huddleston’s Centenary Year, and the 20th anniversary of democratic elections, which meant Masekela could return to South Africa after 30 years of exile.

Teenagers ​ ​Hugh Masekela and ​Jonas Gwangwa​, who​  formed the Huddleston Jazz Band​, with Father Huddleston in​ 1954.
Teenagers ​ ​Hugh Masekela and ​Jonas Gwangwa​, who​ formed the Huddleston Jazz Band​, with Father Huddleston in​ 1954.

Hugh Masekela reflects on his life, the legacy of Trevor Huddleston, and plays music from his outstanding career. This special evening, in a beautiful 17th century building in central London, W1, has limited seating, providing a truly intimate experience with this maestro of music.  The event will raise funds for young creatives in Johannesburg.  This is the up close and personal event of the year.

Masekela will be joined in performance at the event by special guest, New York-born jazz pianist, Larry Willis, who ‘Bra Hugh’ first met in those early days in Manhattan.

Father Huddleston CR KCMG wasborn on June 15 1913. He worked among South Africa’s black community between 1943-1956 when he was recalled to Britain by his religious order, the Community of the Resurrection.

He went on to join the Boycott Movement, and was President of the Anti-Apartheid Movement in the UK (now ACTSA).

Awarded the South African medal of honour, the Isitwalandwe Medal, in 1955 at the Congress of the People in Kliptown, Soweto, he was party to the signing of the Freedom Charter, pre-cursor of South Africa’s 1996 Constitution. Nelson Mandela said of Father Huddleston, on hearing of his death, ‘No white person did as much for South Africa as Father Trevor Huddleston’.

He died on 20 April 1998 and is buried in Sophiatown, close to where the Memorial Centre is based, which works in his name for the benefit of young people.

In his autobiography Still Grazing, published in 2004, Masekela talks about that first trumpet, and how it did not stop there, as Huddleston later secured a gift of a new trumpet from Louis Armstrong. Not long after Hugh left South Africa for the UK and then New York, where he began to craft his signature Afro-jazz style, under both Armstrong and Gillespie.

Hosted by the Trevor Huddleston Memorial Centre (based in Sophiatown, Johannesburg), the gala evening on 17 June will raise funds for the work of the Memorial Centre, to help young entrepreneurs get a foothold in the creative industries in South Africa. The Memorial Centre, established in 2000, runs training and incubation for budding entrepreneurs.

Huddleston Centre director Tricia Sibbons said, “Mr Masekela’s career is an inspiration to thousands of young people and this unique evening will honour Father Huddleston, ensuring that the legacy of creative opportunity is passed on to the next generation. It will be an extraordinary event with perhaps the supreme emissary of world music and advocate for African heritage.”

The story of this one trumpet is symbolic of the impact Huddleston had on literally hundreds of South Africans in his adult life. Other well known names include Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, fellow South African musician Jonas Gwangwa, Sally Motlana, (activist and vice-chair of the South African Council of Churches during the 1970s); Emeritus Archbishop Khotso Makhulu, O R Tambo, and Robben Islander and later President of the Land Claims Court, Fikile Bam.

Tickets from £60-32 (inc booking fee) per person with all proceeds helping young South Africans gain a foothold in careers in the arts.

Tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hugh-masekela-one-extraordinary-evening-special-guestlarry-willis-tickets-11516202271

Event information: Tuesday 17 June

Secret Venue — close to Piccadilly Circus.

Venue details sent with tickets.

Doors 19h00 Event 19h30.

For more information on the event (but not tickets) telephone +27 11 673 7238 or email: thmcentre@mweb.co.za