"Khawuleza, mama, Khawuleza"

The gang all went to check out Hugh Masekela on Friday. I have to confess i didn't know the first thing about him. But we've been having an amazing musical journey (with one missfire: DRUM!) and I was hoping for the best.
Dani told me this was the music her mum would listen to when Dani was a kid, (which really raised the coolness level of Dani's mum to another level.)
Hugh was born in South Africa in 1939. That makes him just shy of 70 yrs. But watching him on stage performing just confirms my belief that music keeps you younger. For the 2 hours that he played for us he was either blowing the trumpet, playing tamborine, scratcher or singing.




My favorite song was Khawuleza. As Hugh tells it, in those days it was illegal for blacks to drink in South Africa and because of this, the shebeen was born. Shebeen is the name for illegal drinking houses. And whenever the police would raid the townships, little kids would run around yelling "Khawuleza mama" which means "hurry mum don't get caught".
This other version is by Miriam Makeba recorded for Swedish TV in early 1966.