Legendary horn player, songwriter, and South African musical ambassador Hugh Masekela turns 75 years old the first week of April. In his multi-decade career, Masekela scored a smash hit with 1968's "Grazing In The Grass," but also used his music to draw attention to the political climate of his home country during the apartheid regime.

For 30 years, Masekela was a de facto political exile from South Africa, so he toured the world instead, using New York as his home base, and using his music to bridge the distance between himself and the culture he held so dear. Songs like "Riot" and "Mace And Grenades" belied their dance-able rhythms with titles and lyrics calibrated to indict the regimes that kept him away. 

Masekela was able to return home in 1990, when Nelson Mandela was released from prison. Since that time, Masekela has acted both as musical ambassador to the world for South Africa and South African artists, but also as keeper of a cultural flame as various traditional music ideas have slowly dwindled in popularity and visibility. 

In a career-spanning interview, Hugh Masekela tells Soundcheck host John Schaefer about how he keeps up a grueling touring schedule; recounts the story of how he wrote Nelson Mandela (Bring Him Back Home); and explains how he's ended up on stage with Dave Matthews, U2, and other music luminaries. 

Hugh Masekela joined the Dave Matthews Band in Johannesburg, South Africa, in late 2013: