Paying tribute to Mama Africa: Miriam Makeba (1932-2008)
Today we say farewell to Mama Africa, Miriam Makeba. She was both a singer and activist originating from South Africa. When Miriam testified against apartheid, her South African citizenship was revoked and she fled to the United States. During that time, she met and married Black Panther member Stokely Carmichael (aka “Kwame Toure”) and also continued her singing career that including moments like performing for the late President Kennedy. Her duets with another legend, Harry Belafonte, produced some of her most popular classics “The Click Song” and “Pata Pata.” Miriam collapsed after performing in Italy and later died from cardiac arrest. Still a singer and activist until her dying moments, the concert was to support author Roberto Saviano who received death threats after publishing a book about the Italian mafia.
Here’s a YouTube clip that summarizes her life.
Excerpt from AFP…
“She was enjoying herself,” Zamo Mbutho, a backing singer and composer with the band, told the Sowetan newspaper.
The audience had loved her performance, althought she played fewer songs than originally planned. She finished off with “Pata Pata”, one of her best known hits, he added.
“After the song she thanked the audience, blew kisses at them with a radiant smile and left the stage. As she went past me, she put the mic on the drum. As she went down the stairs, she fell.”
“It was the first time she left alone,” guitarist Mandla Zikalala told the Star.
Born in Johannesburg on March 4, 1932, Makeba was one of Africa’s best known singers, famed for hits such as “Pata Pata” and “The Click Song” but also for speaking out about the abuses of apartheid.
South Africa’s white regime revoked Makeba’s citizenship in 1960 and even refused to let her return for her mother’s funeral. The singer spent more than three decades in exile, living in the United States, Guinea and Europe.
Read the full article BODY OF S. AFRICAN SINGING LEGEND MAKEBA ARRIVES HOME
Here’s a snippet from BBC News…
South African singing legend Miriam Makeba has died aged 76, after being taken ill in Italy.
She had just taken part in a concert near the southern town of Caserta and died of a heart attack.
Makeba, known as “Mama Africa”, spent more than 30 years in exile after lending her support to the anti-apartheid struggle.
She appeared on Paul Simon’s Graceland tour in 1987 and in 1992 had a leading role in the film Sarafina!…
Read the rest of the story S. AFRICAN ICON MIRIAM MAKEBA DIES
Excerpt from SABC News about funeral plans to be held this Satuday, November 15, 2008…
The memorial service of the late songstress, Miriam Makeba, will be held on Saturday at the Coca Cola Dome in Northgate, Johannesburg. The world-renowned singer, who was affectionately called Mama Afrika, died of a heart attack shortly after performing at a concert in Italy on Sunday night.
Her body is currently at a funeral parlor in Orlando East, Soweto. The service will be held from 9am to 1pm.
Article excerpt from Time Magazine…
“She was at the United Nations ages ago, before it was even fashionable,” said the South African singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka of Miriam Makeba, who died Nov. 10 at 76. The first African woman to win a Grammy, Makeba, known affectionately as “Mama Africa,” traveled to New York City in 1963. She appeared before the U.N.’s special committee on apartheid to plead for intervention in South Africa. Her nation repaid Makeba by exiling her until 1990, when President Nelson Mandela personally asked her to return.
Though much of Makeba’s influence resulted from her political involvement and her topical lyrics, she shied away from the term political singer. Makeba said in an interview, “I was singing about my life, and in South Africa we always sang about what was happening to us–especially the things that hurt us.”
What do you think about Miriam Makeba’s life’s work?
