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" 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. "

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" 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. "

Hugh Masekela

Time

Now

Africa

" 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. "

" The thing that is being lost is heritage. In Africa, religion and advertisement and television and media hype have gotten Africans to where they are convinced psychologically that their own heritage is heathen, pagan, barbaric, savage, primitive. "

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

Hugh Masekela

Community

Come

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" Watching a Kirk Douglas movie, 'Young Man With A Horn,' made me want to be a trumpet player. "

" Apartheid didn't impinge on music. It impinged on people's freedoms. "

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

" 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. "

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

" 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

Always

Laundry

" In some townships, political parties are run by thugs financed from Cape Town. If we don't have support of the police, we can not have the ability to organize and to gain even a slight semblance of power. "

" One of the greatest things that could really happen to Africa is for us to get rid of the borders and for the leadership not to think that the countries belong to them... We didn't create the borders to start with. "

" 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'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. "

" 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 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 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. "

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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

" I got possessed by music as an infant. "

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

" I lived for music since I could think. "

" 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. "

" 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. "