Hugh Masekela Quotes

• I've got to where I am in life not because of something I brought to the world but through something I found - the wealth of African culture.

  Hugh Masekela

  Legacy, Culture, African Music

  115 Copy quote

• My biggest obsession is to show Africans and the world who the people of Africa really are.

  Hugh Masekela

  People, World, Obsession

  67 Copy quote

• I think it is incumbent on all human beings to oppose injustice in every form.

  Hugh Masekela

  Thinking, Injustice, Form

  40 Copy quote

• I am a forward-looking person and live in the moment to build for the future.

  Hugh Masekela

  Live In The Moment, Moments, Persons

  43 Copy quote

• I lived for music since I could think.

  Hugh Masekela

  Thinking

  27 Copy quote

• The Afro-American experience is the only real culture that America has. Basically, every American tries to walk, talk, dress and behave like African Americans.

  Hugh Masekela

  Real, America, Trying

  24 Copy quote

• I don't think any musician ever thinks about making a statement. I think everybody goes into music loving it.

  Hugh Masekela

  Thinking, Musician, Statements

  "Hugh Masekela: 'I don't think I have the power to forgive'". Interview with David Smith, www.theguardian.com. March 4, 2012.

  21 Copy quote

• I had to run away from home in order to be a musician. Because I came from a family of... my father was a health inspector; my mother was a social worker. And I was pretty smart in school. So they expected me to be some kind of academic - schoolteacher, or doctor, lawyer - and they were very disappointed when I told them I wanted to be a musician.

  Hugh Masekela

  Mother, Running, Smart

  30 Copy quote

• It's obvious that the rest of the world loves high African culture - African culture, period.

  Hugh Masekela

  World Love, Culture, Periods

  "Hugh Masekela - what I'm thinking about ... a crisis for African culture". www.theguardian.com. March 12, 2013.

  24 Copy quote

• I've always stood on one fact - that all over the world, there are only two things, the Establishment and the poor people. The poor people are a massive majority and across the world they are exploited in different kinds of ways. The Establishment depends on exploiting raw materials and the poor.

  Hugh Masekela

  Two, People, Majority

  20 Copy quote

• I don't think what I do is influenced by suffering. I come from a talented people who are prolific in music and dance.

  Hugh Masekela

  Thinking, People, Suffering

  "Hugh Masekela: Songs of freedom". Interview with Tony Wende, www.cnn.com. April 2, 2009.

  14 Copy quote

• All my experiences removed geography from my world.

  Hugh Masekela

  World, Geography

  16 Copy quote

• When people campaign for positions, they promise people all kinds of things.

  Hugh Masekela

  People, Promise, Campaigns

  16 Copy quote

• I think that anybody from the 20th century, up to now, has to be aware that if it wasn't for Louis Armstrong, we'd all be wearing powdered wigs. I think that Louis Armstrong loosened the world, helped people to be able to say "Yeah," and to walk with a little dip in their hip. Before Louis Armstrong, the world was definitely square, just like Christopher Columbus thought.

  Hugh Masekela

  Thinking, Squares, People

  16 Copy quote

• I just came from South Africa, a place that had been in a perpetual uprising since 1653, so the uprising had become a way of life in our culture and we grew up with rallies and strikes and marches and boycotts.

  Hugh Masekela

  Uprising, Culture, Way

  "Hugh Masekela: 'I don't think I have the power to forgive'". Interview with David Smith, www.theguardian.com. March 4, 2012.

  14 Copy quote

• In my view, Africa's real problems are cultural.

  Hugh Masekela

  Real, Views, Problem

  "Hugh Masekela - what I'm thinking about ... a crisis for African culture". www.theguardian.com. March 12, 2013.

  13 Copy quote

• I grew up with protests, marches, demonstrations, struggle. But I come from a clan of community workers.

  Hugh Masekela

  Struggle, Community, March

  17 Copy quote

• I'm travelling more than ever. I don't have the answer as to why, but the demand seems to have grown as I've got older.

  Hugh Masekela

  Answers, Demand, Seems

  12 Copy quote

• Africa has been troubled for a long time - well, the world has been troubled ever since I was born.

  Hugh Masekela

  Long, World, Born

  9 Copy quote

• When I left South Africa in 1960 I was 20 years old. I wanted to try to get an education, and music education was not available for me in South Africa.

  Hugh Masekela

  Years, Trying, Music Education

  "Hugh Masekela: Songs of freedom". Interview with Tony Wende, www.cnn.com. April 2, 2009.

  9 Copy quote

• To tell you the truth, man, we spend most of the time travelling in hotels, in festivals, in concert halls, clubs, airports. The most unenjoyable part is all the security at airports.

  Hugh Masekela

  Men, Airports, Clubs

  10 Copy quote

• I always make the joke that I go home, to one of my homes, to go and do laundry so I can go on the road again.

  Hugh Masekela

  Home, Goes On, Laundry

  4 Copy quote

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