Africa Is a Country

Hugh Masekela’s Football Skills

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Hugh Masekela’s Football Skills

By
Sean Jacobs

There's no record that Hugh Masekela could play football. But he acted like he could kick a ball in a music video.

Hugh Masekela, long past his football days. Image: Wiki Commons.

In 1984, the South African trumpeter and bandleader,  Hugh Masekela, released the single “Don’t Go Lose It Baby.”  The song appeared on the album, “Techno Bush.” An uptempo, cheerful song (sample lyrics: “A winner and a loser /A loser and a winner /Let me tell you that’s the name of the game”) made it to number two for two weeks on the dance charts that song. The song has a nice beat to do it. It can set any party alight. Then Masekela shot the music video. The result is probably the only footage of Masekela showing off his football skills. Well, he runs around with the ball  and at one points nutmegs himself. Masekela also has a philosophy about winning: “When every winner’s name /Is in the Hall of fame / And you’re a winner when you beat the game.”

This is not the Hugh Masekela of “Stimela.” My sense is Masekela is an Orlando Pirates fan.

But back to the music video for “Don’t go lose it baby.” Watch from the 1:36 mark. Masekela also pretends to be a football coach for a minute as he raps with the ball in his hand.

The video looks like it was shot in Lesotho or Botswana (the backup band looks like Sankomota), which is where Masekela lived for parts of the 1980s. (He also lived briefs spells in Liberia, Ghana and Nigeria.)

Since then, the closest Masekela came to a football pitch, was when he performed in stadiums, including for a warm up concert during the 2010 World Cup. In this case, for example, he was performing a Miriam Makeba standard with the singer Lira (who is mimicking every Makeba move in the song).

Ht: Antoinette Engel

Further Reading

The cost of care

In Africa’s migration economy, women’s labor fuels households abroad while their own needs are sidelined at home. What does freedom look like when care itself becomes a form of exile?

The memory keepers

A new documentary follows two women’s mission to decolonize Nairobi’s libraries, revealing how good intentions collide with bureaucracy, donor politics, and the ghosts of colonialism.

Making films against amnesia

The director of the Oscar-nominated film ‘Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat’ reflects on imperial violence, corporate warfare, and how cinema can disrupt the official record—and help us remember differently.

From Nkrumah to neoliberalism

On the podcast, we explore: How did Ghana go from Nkrumah’s radical vision to neoliberal entrenchment? Gyekye Tanoh unpacks the forces behind its political stability, deepening inequality, and the fractures shaping its future.

The Visa farce

The South African government’s rush to clear visa applications has led to mass rejections, bureaucratic chaos, and an overloaded appeals system—leaving thousands in limbo.