'Home Is Where The Music Is'

I took notice of Hugh Masekala recently while watching the documentary about the roots and production Paul Simon’s Graceland, Under African Skies. He toured in support of the album which was recorded in South Africa, where Simon used native musicians and singers despite the controversy of apparently condoning apartheid. 

He performed along with South African singer Miriam Makeba, who he married for two years in the mid-1960s. Aside from being a smooth jazz record, there are times when artists are significant beyond the sound of their horn or voice. Both Masekala and Makeba used the platform established by their talent to boldly represent other black South Afrikaners and oppose apartheid.

Although it’s different than what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or Nelson Mandela sacrificed in their own fights. Masekala and others – say, James Brown in the United States – also put up their careers as collateral. On certain levels, the fight for equality was Mandela and Dr. King’s jobs. Whereas Brown and Masekala could have stood on the sidelines and did jazz standards or songs about girls. Neither did and it’s a big reason their music exemplifies art’s impact on society.

Home Is Where the Music Is is a gentle smooth record released in 1972, 10 years since he'd been imprisoned on Robben Island, where he'd reside for another 10 years and 16 years before he'd be released for good. The album, I suspect, is nothing but a sort of declaration. And a salve for a scorned and angry people. Sometimes, you just don't have to yell to be heard.