Analogue Productions - CAPJ 82080 SA - SACD Hybrid Stereo  

Mastered By Kevin Gray at Acoustech Mastering  

Limited Edition - Hybrid SACD Plays On All CD Players

"…Hope is one of those intensely visceral, large as life, and immediately present recordings that will make pretty much any system sound at least very good, and will cause better ones to raise goose bumps." – Wayne Garcia, The Absolute Sound

"…The high quality original mix plus Analogue Productions' superb mastering has resulted in a terrific, very transparent sonic with great impact." – John Henry, Audiophile Audition

"A stunning demo disc to test or show off any stereo system." – Playback

"Here's another masterpiece from Chad Kassem and Kevin Gray…you would swear that you are listening to a master tape in your living room…this one is great for showing off what your stereo system can do." – Jeff Dorgay, Tone Audio,

A longtime audiophile demonstration disc. Hope will show off your system's dynamic range as well as any record ever released. Hugh Masekela, the outstanding South African trumpeter, assembled a seven-piece group and recorded this great set live at Washington, D.C.'s Blues Alley. The songs stretch over a period of nearly five decades and serve as an informal guided tour of Masekela's life. The songs are honest and bare, and as for the sound – WOW!

A longtime audiophile demonstration disc!    

Hope will show off your system's dynamic range as well as any record ever released. 

Hugh Masekela, the outstanding South African trumpeter, assembled a seven-piece group and recorded this great set live at Washington, D.C.'s Blues Alley. The songs stretch over a period of nearly five decades and serve as an informal guided tour of Masekela's life. The songs are honest and bare, and as for the sound, wow!

Now happily resettled in South Africa, Masekela assembled a seven-piece group there and recorded an informal guided tour of his life and repertoire live in Washington D.C.'s Blues Alley. The songs stretch over a period of nearly five decades and several countries and composers -- from an incantatory Alexandria township tune, "Languta," which he learned in 1947, to a fairly ordinary piece written by keyboardist Themba Mkhize in 1993, "Until When." "Abangoma" starts the LP out on the right track, hearkening back to the early fusion of African music and jazz that Masekela was playing back in 1966.

"Mandela (Bring Him Back Home)" may have lost some of its political raison d'etre by 1993, but it remains a good tune, and the band plays it with enthusiasm. Yet Masekela's biggest hit, "Grazing in the Grass," sounds a bit tired in this live rendition. There are two songs by the prolific South African composer Caiphus Semenya, "Nomali" and the driving "Ha Le Se," and the late Nigerian idol Fela Anikulapo-Kuti is represented by "Lady." Clearly the resolution of the political struggle in South Africa had mellowed Masekela; he sounds happier, perhaps less fiery, certainly more polished and refined on the trumpet and flugelhorn than when he started out.

But when you hear his bitter narration on "Stimela," describing the life of formerly conscripted coal miners, you suspect that not all of the old wounds have healed.

"Wow! Hugh Masekela never sounded more real – the BEST Masekela album, a definitive must have!" – Danny Kaey, Positive-Feedback Online

"Horns are brilliant, rich and brassy-bright; drums have the kind of punch-to-the-gut power they have up-close, the soundstage is huge, and on "Grazzin' in th Grass," the sound has the kind of blowback power seen in old Memorex ads." - Wayne Garcia, TAS

Hugh Masekela Hope 

1.  Abangoma (The Healers)
2.  Uptownship
3.  Mandela (Bring Him Back Home!)
4.  Grazing in the Grass
5.  Lady
6.  Until When
7.  Languta
8.  Nomali
9.  Market Place
10. Ntyilo Ntyilo (The Love Bird)
11. Ha le Se (The Dowry Song)
12. Stimela [Coal Train]