Dorothy Masuka

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Masuka (2015)

Dorothy Masuka (born September 3, 1935 in Bulawayo , Southern Rhodesia , † February 23, 2019 ) was a South African jazz and pop singer. South African singers from Miriam Makeba to Letta Mbulu to Aura Msimang were influenced by Masuka and - like Hugh Masekela - interpreted Kulala or other of her songs.

Live and act

Masuka, whose father comes from what is now Zambia and whose mother was a Zulu , grew up from the age of twelve in South Africa, where she went to school in Johannesburg . Influenced by Dolly Rathebe , she became interested in jazz and South African music, such as the Township Jive . She took part in talent competitions and left school at 16 to become a member of Philemon Mogotsi's African Ink Spots in Durban . Soon afterwards she wrote the hit song Hamba Notsokolo . At the age of 20 she was touring with the music revue African Jazz and Variety , to which Miriam Makeba was a member at the time. It was also featured on the cover of Drum and other magazines. Her songs were very successful at first. However, her song Dr. Malan on the then Prime Minister Daniel François Malan , who introduced apartheid and his discriminatory laws; the plate had to be taken off the market. In 1961 she sang a song about the just murdered Patrice Lumumba , which was also banned by the censors ; all records including the master tapes were confiscated.

Masuka went back to Bulawayo after being declared an undesirable person in South Africa . Four years later, she fell out with the Rhodesian authorities and had to flee to the now independent Zambia. In 1965 she appeared in the musical Buwa by Caiphus Semenya in the United States. She also performed with Miriam Makeba; In 1969 she took part in the Pan African Cultural Festival in Algiers . She spent the following years in exile in Malawi , Uganda and Tanzania until she was able to return to Zimbabwe in 1980. From 1992 she lived again in Johannesburg, but also appeared occasionally in Europe and the United States, for example in 2002 with the Mahotella Queens in New York.

In 2006 she was awarded the South African Ikhamanga Order in Silver.

Masuka died in 2019 and was buried in West Park Cemetery in Johannesburg.

Discographic notes

  • Pata Pata (1990)
  • Hamba Notsokolo (1995)
  • Mzilikazi (2001)
  • The Definite Collection (2002)
  • Lendaba (2003)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary. enca.com, February 23, 2019, accessed on February 23, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Max Mojapelo et al. a .: Beyond Memory: Recording the History, Moments and Memories of South African Music 2009, pp. 286f.
  3. ↑ List of recipients of the medal 2006 (English), accessed on June 19, 2014
  4. ^ Dorothy Masuka to be laid to rest on Sunday. sabcnews.com of March 3, 2019 (English), accessed on March 19, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Masuka, Dorothy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African singer
DATE OF BIRTH September 3, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH Bulawayo
DATE OF DEATH February 23, 2019