Published
Wed, Jan 24, 2018, 01:44
- Masekela scored an underground dance hit in 1984 with "Don't Go Lose It Baby."
Legendary trumpeter Hugh Masekela has died in Johannesburg after battling prostate cancer.
Masekela got his start with South African group The Jazz Epistles in the '50s, but would later flee the country's violent apartheid regime in 1960. He became a key figure in the international protest movement against the racist South African government, penning anti-apartheid tunes like "Soweto Blues" and "Mandela (Bring Him Back Home)" and collaborating with the likes of The Byrds and Paul Simon.
His 1984 album, Techno Bush, incorporated electronics, and its single, "Don't Go Lose It Baby," became a hit on dance floors, culminating in a live performance at the Paradise Garage. Over the years, Masekela's tunes have been rinsed by everyone from Ron Hardy to Laurent Garnier to Jamie xx and remixed by the likes of Metro Area. He returned to South Africa in 1990 following the release of Mandela, ending his 30-year exile.
Listen to "Don't Go Lose It Baby."