Pop Reviews : Makeba and Masekela

Concerts by exiled South African singer Miriam Makeba and trumpeter/singer Hugh Masekela are inevitably surrounded by an aura of social and cultural energy that reaches far beyond the confines of the performance area. Their program Thursday night at the Wiltern Theatre was filled with references to the repression in South Africa and to the turmoil, as well as the joy, that courses through other parts of the continent.

But Makeba and Masekela made it clear that they are far more than protest artists. The points they made were always done in the context of superb musicality--stunning examples of the way in which creative performers can bring meaningful substance and texture from the outside world to the intimate arena of their work.

The 2 1/2-hour show ranged from energetic high life rhythms to Masekela’s jazz-based improvisations and an occasional ballad from Makeba. But the heart of the evening was Makeba’s deeply felt collection of tribal songs taught to her by her mother.

As performed by Makeba and her three talented associate singers, the pieces pulsed with rhythmic undercurrent and deep passions.

Masekela’s songs had a similar intensity, with perhaps a more visible edge of anger. His performance of a piece describing the train that takes workers to the mines of South Africa virtually bristled with kinetic fury, the instrumental sounds of the train mixing and mingling with Masekela’s sharp, cutting lyrics.