Customer Reviews

Hugh Masekela - Homecoming Concert [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

While this is a great VHS- (amazing sound) - the DVD version has increadibly awful audio (tinny, tons of hiss, echo, difficult to hear)! It sounds like someone dubbed it with a cheap portable stereo in front of a TV playing the VHS! Avoid the DVD edition- stick with the video. I do not know WHAT Shanachie was thinking with this one.

South African musician Hugh Masekela returned home after a self imposed exile of thirty years but South Africans never forgot Masekela or his music. In this performance Hugh Masekela features some of the great musicians of South Africa, including the sax and penny whistle player Morris Goldberg, and moves the audience to tears with an emotional and inspiring performance closing with the new national anthem. A must for lovers of South African music, a must see for trumpet players, and a must see for anyone who has followed the struggle for freedom in South Africa.

The first thing I will say is the sound is of very good quality. The music is enjoyable, the picture fine. I am really dissapointed in the lack of support for the extra abilities DVD has when it comes to music concert titles, and this DVD does little to change this. I want to be able to see it from multiple angles, get backstage footage, interviews, after party with the groupies etc etc. This DVD is fine, but come on, DVD deserves more.

A wonderful experience. Masekela fuses South African music with American Jazz and comes up with a magical transformation. I own this DVD and have watched it at least twice a month since I got it. The video is of the 1991 Sekunjalo("This is it") Masekela homecoming to South Africa. MoGe(aka Morris Goldberg) is excellent on sax and flute. If you are a Hugh Masekela or jazz fan, you will love this. I met Masekela at Zanzibar Blue in Philadelphia this past year. He's still very active and touring at age sixty or so. I wish more people would have the chance to hear him live in concert. This DVD is the next best thing. Masekela conveys the richness of his South African musical heritage by fusing it with American jazz... and comes up with a unique musical experience that takes music to a new higher level. Listening to his music is an uplifting experience. Do yourself a favor, rent this one!

While the music on this DVD is great - Hugh Masekela on trumpet, Morris Goldberg on sax and pennywhistle, and a host of other South African musicians, singers, and dancers, this could have easily been a CD, rather than a DVD. The producers do not take advantage of what DVD has to offer. One of the reasons I buy DVDs are for the extra/bonus/backstory material that is usually included. This DVD has none of it.

Here is a man who is returning to his homeland after being exiled for nearly 30 years. Surely that is a very emotional event for him. That deserves, at the very least, some interviews and more video footage of his homecoming. We know that things have changed in South Africa in the last 30 years, it should be documented through Masekela's eyes and ears for this DVD. They could have included interviews with Masekela, with musicians he's played with, and other (younger) South African musicians who he's influenced all these years, even while in exile.

Five stars for the music and the musicians, but this is a waste of a DVD. Should have been a CD instead.