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" I don't criticise anybody, but I just don't understand religion. Like I don't understand nationalism. These are the two things that cause wars. I don't understand why they are supposed to be good things. "

Hugh Masekela

Good Things

Religion

Understand

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

" 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. "

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

" If I don't make heritage visible and the strength of mother tongue important for my grandchildren, it scares me that they might say in 20 years from now, 'Well, it is rumoured that we used to be Africans long ago.' And in many urban areas, it's already happening. "

" 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. "

" I don't think anybody has ever been able to live up to what they promised. I don't know a government that has ever been successful at that because once they get into power, things change and the world is controlled also by business now. "

" I have a major respect for nature. I'm an environmentalist. "

" What people don't know about oppression is that the oppressor works much harder. You always grew up being told you were not smart enough or not fast enough, but we all lived from the time we were children to beat the system. "

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

" Mandela was chosen as a symbol of the South African struggle, and he did that great. But I wasn't just happy for him. I was happy for the people. "

Hugh Masekela

Great

Happy

" Whatever you go into, you have to go in there to be the best. There's no formulas. It's all about passion and honesty and hard work. It might look glamorous, but it takes a lot of hard work. The blessing with the arts is that you can do it forever. "

" I got possessed by music as an infant. "

" I live a very enjoyable life. I understand what moderation is. "

" I started playing the piano when I was 6 years old 'cause my folks tried to get me away from the gramophone. And I just - I lived for music since I could think. And they got me piano lessons. So by the time I was 13, I was quite an accomplished piano player and musician. "

" I'm very interested in heritage restoration, and I'm working with a group of people to create a number of academies and performance spaces to encourage native arts and crafts and to explore African history. "

" Not only in Africa but in much of the world, most leaders' pockets are lined by industrial business. And industrial business is never going to stop aiming at profit. "

" I think the most difficult thing that has had to happen in South Africa for the previously disadvantaged communities is they had to reconcile that the oppressor has been enriched and the establishment is now making five or 10 times more profit than they were during the time the economic embargo was on them. "

" Once in a while, I treat myself to a cheesecake or carrot cake. "

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

" When I left South Africa there were 10 million people - when I came back there were more than 40 million. I had to learn how to get to the highways because when I left where there were no highways. "

" 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

Older

Got

" I want to see Nelson walking down the streets of South Africa; I want to see him walking hand-in-hand with Winnie Mandela. "

" For me to want to play the trumpet was a very, very odd thing for my clan as a whole. One of my uncles was a high school principal, and he referred to my trumpet as a bugle, which really hurt me. "

" Just because Nelson has been released doesn't mean the government has done us any favors. We have nothing to be grateful for. The government destroyed our country, destroyed our people. If anybody needs amnesty, it is the government. "

" I'm not a Christian. My participation in music is so full blast, 24 hours a day. And that's my religion. I think I'm as spiritual as the pope, because I spend as much time in my spirituality as he does. "

" The apartheid people were actors, and they had to act out their part in their beliefs every day. That's why we always saw them as being comedic. "

" 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. "

" I couldn't get away from the gramophone. It was the only thing that I ever really liked, and I was singing along by the time I was five years old - to the Modernaires and Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole. "

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

" I don't think I have the power to forgive. "