About the Book
Hugh Masekela is a giant of Jazz and pioneer in bringing the voice and spirit of Africa to the West, but his wild and moving tale transcends the world of music. A South African exile, he landed in New York, where he was adopted by bebop heroes like Dizzy Gillespie, and soon fell, headfirst, into the raucous swirl of 1960s America. During the thirty-year pilgrimage that followed, he stumbled into adventure after adventure, whether battling Don King over the Rumble in the Jungle concert, finding himself on the wrong side of revolutions all over West Africa, loving some of the most beautiful and volatile women in the world, or battling for the destruction of apartheid.
When he finally returned to a free South Africa, he found the strength to confront the personal demons that tracked him around the world and discovered a new measure of peace at home. Unfolding against one of the most inspiring political transformations of the twentieth century, this is the engrossing chronicle of a remarkable, one-of-a-kind musical life.
About the Author
D. Michael Cheers recieved his doctorate in African Studies and Research from Howard University in Washington,D.C. A Fulbright Scholar, he co-edited Songs of My People: African Americans A Self-Potrait. Dr. Cheers currently teaches visual journalism at San Jose State University, San Jose, Carlifonia.
