Miriam Makeba is beyond dispute one of South Africa's true legends. There are many reasons for that. With her voice and talent Mama Africa for instance put South African music on the map, as she was the first African singer winning a Grammy Award followed by being the first African artist scoring an international monster hit.

Besides using her voice to entertain millions, Makeba used her most powerful asset to give a voice to millions of fellow South Africans who were oppressed by the apartheid regime.

"listen to this live fragment of Miriam Makeba, performing in South Africa for the first time after being in exile for 17 years...."

Miriam Makeba, born in 1932 in Johannesburg, was barely 21 years old when she as a member of the Manhattan Brothers reached for the stars in her home country. It didn't take long before Miriam Makeba's career was brought to another level; in 1959 she received a Grammy Award for the album 'An Evening with Harry Belafonte & Miriam Makeba'. Her star rose further when she released her monster hit Pata Pata.

Makeba used her voice to entertain, but also to give a voice to millions of oppressed fellow South Africans who suffered as a result of apartheid. The price she had to pay for her actions was high, namely her South African citizenship. After she appeared in an anti-apartheid documentary in 1960, the South African government banned her from returning to her home country and took away her citizenship. Miriam Makeba remained a 'citizen of the world' for thirty years until she returned to South Africa after Nelson Mandela was released from jail.

The event didn't stop Mama Africa from raising her voice against the apartheid regime. Between 1964 and 1975, as a United Nations delegate of Guinea where she was granted asylum, Miriam Makeba addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations regularly on what was happening in South Africa.

Meanwhile she carried on singing, a process in which she put South African music on the map. Over the years Makeba worked with artists as Joe Sample, Stix Hooper, Arthur Adams, and David T. Walker of the Crusaders. In the late 1980's Miriam Makeba joined Paul Simon and South Africa 's Ladysmith Black Mambazo during their world-wide Graceland tour and in 1990 she joined Odetta and Nina Simone for the One Nation tour.

Following Nelson Mandela's release from prison Makeba returned to South Africa in December 1990, thirty years after she went in exhile. In April 1991 she performed her first concert in her homeland in three decades.

The years after were busy ones for Makeba. She appeared in the South African award-winning musical, Sarafina, in the role of Sarafina's mother. Following, she reunited with her first husband, trumpeter Hugh Masekela, for the Tour Of Hope tour. Afterwards she performed at the Vatican's Nevi Hall during a world-wide broadcasted show, Christmas In The Vatican. And in 2000 Makeba released her first studio album in a decade, Homeland.

After her return to South Africa, Makeba released over ten albums. In 2004, at 72 years of age, Miriam Makeba relased 'Reflections' honoring the tenth anniversary of the end of apartheid in South Africa.

Read more on Miriam Makeba - Press conference
Read more on Miriam Makeba - Concert Cape Town International Jazz Festival

Source: Miriam Mannak / Cape Town Magazine.com


For the best of South African music, new CD releases and award winning musicians subscribe to our free and popular Editor's Picks Newsletter.