Afro-soul musician Thandiswa Mazwai recently took to Instagram to share images of her first visit to legendary trumpeter Hugh Masekela’s grave since his death.
Her South African “musical father” died in 2018 after he lost his battle to prostate cancer at the age of 78.
The “Nizalwa Ngobani?” hitmaker was just fourteen years old when she met "Uncle Hugh“, who went on to become her mentor. From then on the two shared the stage on numerous occasions and went on to produce two notable tracks, ”Thanayi“ and ”Ingoma“.
On her Instagram post along with pictures, Mazwai wrote of how she played her new music to him and cried a little before sharing how she missed his “kind and gentle council”.
“This morning I sat at Bra Hugh’s grave for the first time since we buried him. I sat for an hour while the winter sun warmed my back and the cold floor iced my bare feet.
“I played his music, then my new music. I wrote in my note book while burning a j and some palo santo,” she said.
She continued: “I cried a little bit and sat there for an hour before I finally left. @adjaye_visual_sketchbook created such a beautiful place to sit and honour Bra Hugh. Always missed Uncle Hugh. 🖤✨🎺I miss you kind and gentle council as I finish this work.
“LAST FRAME: water that my daughter put out for me to wash my hands after visit the grave site. #rituals.”
Taking to the comments section, Mazwai’s fans wrote that her visit to Masekela’s grave to play her new music was a fitting thing to do.
“I'm sure He felt your presence and you felt his and in honour of your visitation he bestowed upon you a blessing to finish your work with due diligence and efficacy.... Spirit never dies but livee forever mntase,” wrote @thereal_earlwgreen.
“Thank you for sharing. Thank you for sharing your gift with us. I am certain he can’t wait for us to hear the new work because it’s going to be FIYAH! ❤️✨❤️,” commented Lerato Tshabalala.
@bulelani.arthur said: “You one of the luckiest being I know if I think about the prolific people you look up to. Bra Hugh included. I anticipate a beautiful body of work and cannot wait sisi❤️.”