Still Grazing

by Hugh Masikela

  Elinam and I live quietly on our farm, which we named “Polinam,” after my mother and Elinam. When I’m not in the recording studio or on tour I spend a lot of time with her going to movies, the theater, and concerts, or visiting with friends and relatives, especially Barbara, whom we will miss very much after she leaves for Washington, D.C., to take up her new post as South Africa’s ambassador to the United States. We often take long walks together in the morning. I’m up before six, writing, composing, or answering correspondence from business associates and concert offers. I’ve been working on this manuscript for thirty years, the last nine years full-time. I’ve also completed a novel. There’s another musical on the horizon, as well as a television series and movie scripts in various stages of development. Pula works with me at our company, the Chissa Group, which specializes in recording, film, artist management, events, theater productions, and my bookings. Irfaan Gillan, who promoted my first South African tour, Sekunjalo, is our managing director. My son Selema is a television commentator for NBA games on ESPN. He’s thirty-two. We speak often and try to hook up when I’m in the United States.

  At Chissa we are making records that people seem to enjoy. Tsepo Tshola, Busi Mhlongo, and I are the first three artists on the label, distributed by Sony. My current band is tight! We play about two hundred gigs a year around the world. John Selolwane is still with me on guitar. Arthur Tshabalala is on piano, Mandla Zikalala is on bass, Ezbie Moilwa is on keyboards, and Dumisani Hlela is on drums. Francis Fuster plays percussion with us on most European and U.S. tours.

  Pula got married on November 16, 2002, to a wonderful young man, Monde Twala. The ceremony, executive produced by Mabusha, was held at a wedding village. Some three hundred friends and family members attended the ceremony. All my closest relatives who could come were at the wedding, and so were many of my old friends. I missed my grandparents, mother and father, sister, aunts and uncles, and those friends who had passed on. As I walked Pula down the aisle, I thought how lucky I was to be alive after such a crazy life. When I stood to address the gathering as the father of the bride, I looked into the audience and there was Sam Mosikili, who had made Sekunjalo possible. He was sitting next to my dear friends Julius Mdluli, Jiji Mbere, and Ntinyane Matabane. At the next table were my cousin Peter Vundla and his wife. Mfundi Vundla could not attend, but his wife, Karen, was there. My attorney, David Dison, and his wife, Rinkie, were there. Elaine was surrounded by her children and Sybil’s children. Barbara was seated with my cousins Billy and Mokgadi, surrounded by many of her new in-laws, Pula’s cousins, sister, and brother, and her mother, Dr. Tshidi Kgware. Adam and Patrick were sitting with Monde’s mother and her other son and nephews. Pula’s girlfriends from Phuthing High School were all there. They were now stunning grown women with their own homes and big jobs. My daughter was beaming as she waved to me from the bridal table. When Pula’s new husband spoke, my son-in-law recited two beautiful poems he had written for his bride. Monde made us cry, just as he had done when he couldn’t hold back tears after the priest asked him to repeat his vows. While driving back to the farm, our two boys were laughing in the backseat while I held Elinam’s hand and watched the deep green South African landscape blurring past the window.

  Many of the people I grew up with have left this world. In the early nineties, Ray Lofaro was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and the very last day I spent with him at his loft apartment in the SoHo area of Manhattan he was bald from chemotherapy. “What are the chances?” I asked. “It’s a very long shot, Dukie,” Ray replied. We were not laughing. I never saw him again. A memorial service for Ray was held at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Together with Morris Goldberg, Tony Cedras, Damon Duewhite, Bakithi Khumalo, Lawrence Matshiza, and Francis Fuster, we played some of his favorite songs at the request of his brother Gene. May his soul rest in peace.

  Alan Pariser succumbed to throat cancer at the end of 2001. I spent time with him in Los Angeles. His voice was gone and he could only communicate through a voice-amplifying machine, or in writing. But his spirits were high. I think about those two people a lot, and never fail to remember them when I do my meditations. I miss them a lot, along with all the others who touched my life intensely: saxophonist Al Abreu; Philemon Hou; my stepdaughter Sibongile Makeba; Godfrey Mochochoko, who died in our dorm at St. Peter’s in my first year at boarding school; Bishop Trevor Huddleston; Dizzy Gillespie; Miles Davis; Jimi Hendrix and his companion; Devon, my elementary school buddy; Mohale Mpiti; Kippe Moeketsi; Johny Gertze; Dudu Pukwana; Todd Matshikiza; Elijah Nkwanyana; Gwigwi Mrwebi; Patience Gcwabe; Monty Berman; Lindi and George Phahle; Fela Kuti; Hopane; Mamoshaba; Polina; Thomas; Bigvai; Clara; Mpho Motloung; Kenneth and Mokonye Masekela; Collins Ramusi; Rhodes Gxoyiya; Washa; Johanna Bowers; Sybil; George Molotlegi; Uncle Putu; and Stanley Todd. May their souls rest in peace. My deepest and sincerest gratitude goes out to them and the many others who helped me to make a life out of my compulsive nature and all my crazy notions. I am truly lucky to be around. Let the music play.

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  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Hugh Masekela: My sincerest gratitude, love, and admiration goes to my sister Barbara Masekela; my wife, Elinam Cofie-Masekela; my sisters Elaine and Sybil and their children; my cousins Billy Masekela and Mokgadi Masekela Tlakula; my dearest friends Stewart Levine, Johny Stirling, Chuck Kaye, Jessie La Pierre Gonzales, and Tshidi Kgwar
e. My guiding lights and mentors Miriam Makeba and Harry Belafonte; Bishop Trevor Huddleston, who got me my first trumpet; my first piano teacher, Madevu; Uncle Sauda and Mr. Cecil Collins, who taught me how to play the trumpet; my classmates and teachers at St. Michael’s Primary School, St. Peter’s Secondary School, and Manhattan School of Music; and childhood playmates in Witbank, Springs, and Alexandra townships. Thanks to Myrtle and Monty Berman and trumpeters Elijah Nkwanyana and Banzi Bangane from the Merry Makers orchestra in Springs, who started me out playing at concerts and dances in that band’s third trumpet chair. Thanks also to Jonas Gwangwa, Moon Masemola, Chips Molopyane, George Makhene, Monty Mahobe, Zakes Mokae, Solly Kgoleng, and all the members of the Huddleston Jazz Band. To Victor Ndlazilwane, Ntemi Piliso, Zakes Nkosi, Skip Phahlane, Mackay Davashe, Sol Klaaste, Kippie Moeketsi, Todd Matshikiza, Boycie Gwele, Vandi Leballo, Joey Maxims, John “Fingers” Dlamini, Harold Jephta, Gwigwi Mrwebi, Stanley “Spike” Glasser, Abdullah Ibrahim, Johnny Gertze, Makhaya Ntshoko, Dolly Rathebe, Ben “Satch” Masinga, Morris Goldberg, George Kussel, Nathan Mdledle, Joe Mogotsi, Rufus Khoza, Dorothy Masuka, Peter Ntsane, Bob Lesia, Thandie Klaasens, Ray Mokalane, Louisa Emmanuel, Alfred Herbert, Alan Harris, Pumpy Naidoo, Jackie Marks, Tessa Kahn, Selwyn Kahn, Chris McGregor, Dudu Pukwana, Mike Miller, Jack Katz, Goolam Lombard, Ian Bernhardt, Peggy Phango, Mary Rabotapi, Johannah Radebe, and Mike “Mazurkie” Phahlane who taught me all about friendship, music, and loyalty.