In 1976 we recorded an album called “Colonial Man” for Casablanca Records with a group of musicians I had assembled from Ghana and Nigeria. This was our second album after the popular “The Boyz Doin’ It”. We were touring the USA when our producer Stewart Levine said “We need to record a second album, Neil Bogart wants it right away”. That was when I proposed that we explore the colonial theme and do songs about the European pioneers of countless expeditions that took place in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries to establish European territories outside the continental mainland.
England, France, Portugal and Spain were obsessed with this exercise, sending people such as Stanley, Johnstone, Cecil Rhodes, Livingstone, Vasco da Gama, Henry The Navigator, Ponce De Leon, Cortez, Christopher Columbus, Sir George Grey, Sir Harry Smith, Simon Van Der Stel, Jan van Riebeeck and tens of other adventurers, pirates, geologists, bankers, financiers and historians out into Asia, The Americas, The South Pacific and Africa for the purpose of establishing new dominions for their exploitation.
Little did I know that most had never heard about the above mentioned characters and did not care much about the history, that the record industry in America did not give a hoot about the colonial past, and almost every distributor in the country would send the shipments back to the record companies because they did not understand what we were singing about. “Who the hell are all these guys Hugh is talking about and who cares?” was the general response. Needless to say, not even my friends bought the album.
Anyway, Vasco da Gama was the first navigator to establish the sea route that circumvented Africa via the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa en route to Asia. The purpose was to collect precious stones, spices and condiments prior to the opening of the shorter route via the Suez Canal.
Khaya Mahlangu pays tribute to the great Caribbean Salsa flautist such as Pacheco on the picollo and flute and John Selolwane applauds the great guitar styles of Jimmy Hendrix and Carlos Santana. Cha-Cha-Cha enthusiasts will indeed be ecstatic to hit the dance floor in memory of the style of music and we shall always be indebted to the wonderful musicians who pioneered this groove in Cuba at the beginning of the last century.
Hugh Masekela, 2000
England, France, Portugal and Spain were obsessed with this exercise, sending people such as Stanley, Johnstone, Cecil Rhodes, Livingstone, Vasco da Gama, Henry The Navigator, Ponce De Leon, Cortez, Christopher Columbus, Sir George Grey, Sir Harry Smith, Simon Van Der Stel, Jan van Riebeeck and tens of other adventurers, pirates, geologists, bankers, financiers and historians out into Asia, The Americas, The South Pacific and Africa for the purpose of establishing new dominions for their exploitation.
Little did I know that most had never heard about the above mentioned characters and did not care much about the history, that the record industry in America did not give a hoot about the colonial past, and almost every distributor in the country would send the shipments back to the record companies because they did not understand what we were singing about. “Who the hell are all these guys Hugh is talking about and who cares?” was the general response. Needless to say, not even my friends bought the album.
Anyway, Vasco da Gama was the first navigator to establish the sea route that circumvented Africa via the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa en route to Asia. The purpose was to collect precious stones, spices and condiments prior to the opening of the shorter route via the Suez Canal.
Khaya Mahlangu pays tribute to the great Caribbean Salsa flautist such as Pacheco on the picollo and flute and John Selolwane applauds the great guitar styles of Jimmy Hendrix and Carlos Santana. Cha-Cha-Cha enthusiasts will indeed be ecstatic to hit the dance floor in memory of the style of music and we shall always be indebted to the wonderful musicians who pioneered this groove in Cuba at the beginning of the last century.
Hugh Masekela, 2000
Vasco da Gama (The Sailorman) - Hugh Masekela
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