Musicians perform at a memorial service for South African Jazz legend, Hugh Masekela, in Johannesburg, Sunday, Jan 28, 2018. The son of legendary South African jazz musician and anti-apartheid activist Hugh Masekela says his father had "laughter and humor to the very end" before his death this week in Johannesburg.
Musicians perform at a memorial service for South African Jazz legend, Hugh Masekela, in Johannesburg, Sunday, Jan 28, 2018. The son of legendary South African jazz musician and anti-apartheid activist Hugh Masekela says his father had "laughter and humor to the very end" before his death this week in Johannesburg. AP Photo)
Musicians perform at a memorial service for South African Jazz legend, Hugh Masekela, in Johannesburg, Sunday, Jan 28, 2018. The son of legendary South African jazz musician and anti-apartheid activist Hugh Masekela says his father had "laughter and humor to the very end" before his death this week in Johannesburg. AP Photo)

Music & Nightlife

Musicians at South African memorial celebrate Hugh Masekela

The Associated Press

January 28, 2018 09:09 AM

JOHANNESBURG

Musicians in South Africa are performing in a tribute for Hugh Masekela, the jazz musician and anti-apartheid activist who died after a decade-long fight with cancer.

The joyful memorial was being staged Sunday at the Soweto campus of the University of Johannesburg.

Masekela died on Tuesday at the age of 78. The trumpeter, singer and composer started playing the horn at 14. He became an integral part of the 1950s jazz scene in Johannesburg and went to Britain and the United States in the 1960s, using his music to spread awareness about South Africa's oppressive system of white minority rule.

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