Legendary jazz maestro Hugh Masekela dies at 78

Legendary South African jazz maestro Hugh Masekela is dead.

In a press release, Masekela’s family says the veteran trumpeter bowed out after “a protracted and courageous battle with Cancer.”

The statement further adds that the legend “passed peacefully in Johannesburg, South Africa, surrounded by his family.”

Masekela is widely considered the father of South African jazz, and will be remembered for his anti-apartheid songs such as ‘Soweto Blues’ which he wrote in response to the Soweto riots of 1976 and the carnage that followed.

The Grammy award winning trumpeter married Miriam Makeba in 1964, only for the two to break up two years later.

Masekela later married Elinam Cofie in 1999, for whom he wrote and sang the song “Ghana”.

He is survived by his daughter Pula Twala, and his son, Selema “Sal” Masekela.