Miriam Makeba

(1932-2008) Singer, songwriter, activist and actress. Fondly known as “the goddess of African song” and later “Mama Afrika”,. Born Zenzile (Zenzi) Miriam Makeba 4 March 1932 in Prospect Township, Johannesburg. she started her career in the 1940'S as a young singer in church and school choirs near Pretoria, becoming the lead singer for the Manhattan Brothers, touring the country with them. She appeared as an actress in the documentary film Come Back Africa (1957) and playing the female lead (shebeen queen Joyce) in the musical King Kong (1959). It was directed by Leon Gluckman, and staged by the Union Artists at the Wits University Great Hall in 1959. Stanley (Spike) Glasser was the musical director, Arthur Goldreich did the design and Arnold Dover did the choreography for this musical. Also starring Nathan Mdledle in the lead role, Hugh Masekela, Joe Mogotsi and Peggy Phango. This brought her international attention and the friendship of Harry Belafonte, with whom she toured. She settled in the USA in voluntary exile, to become and internationally renowned and respected performer and anti-apartheid activist, particularly in conjunction with her second husband, Afro-American activist Stokely Carmichael. (Her first husband had been jazz musician Hugh Masekela.) During the 1980s she gradually began to visit South Africa again and returned to the country in 1990. Besides performing regularly, she starred in the film Sarafina (199*). In 1993 she received an Honorary Doctorate in Music from the University of Cape Town and her autobiography (Makeba, My Story) was published in 1994. MAKEBA, Miriam. She was the band vocalist, and cast as Joyce in King Kong, which was directed by Leon Gluckman, and staged by the Union Artists at the Wits University Great Hall in 1959. Stanley (Spike) Glasser was the musical director, Arthur Goldreich did the design and Arnold Dover did the choreography for this musical. Also starring Nathan Mdledle in the lead role, Hugh Masekela, Joe Mogotsi and Peggy Phango. She became a huge star in America and Europe. She married and divorced Sonny Pillay, then Hugh Masekela, and then married the American activist Stokely Carmichael. ***MAKEBA Makeba built her reputation in the music industry in the 1950s singing for the Cuban Brothers and the Manhattan Brothers and the Skylarks. In 1959 Makeba starred in the anti-apartheid documentary Come Back, Africa which placed the apartheid government under the international spotlight. As consequence she was subjected to harassment by the apartheid government. Her passport was revoked and withdrawn while she was outside the country leading to her stay in exile in London. When her mother died in 1960 she could not return to her funeral because her passport had been revoked. In 1963 Makeba testified before the United Nations (UN) of how the apartheid government had stripped her of her citizenship. After speaking out against apartheid in the United Nations her music was banned by the state broadcasters in South Africa. Makeba lived in numerous countries such as the United States of America, France, Guinea and Belgium. Makeba toured various parts of the world in the 1970s and 1980s and continued to speak out against apartheid in various forums. At the end of apartheid she returned to South Africa and continued with her singing career. In 2005, Makeba announced her retirement from the mainstream music industry but she continued to make appearances and to do smaller performances. Makeba died on 9 November 2008 while performing in a concert organized for Roberto Saviano, an Italian writer threatened with death by the Mafia after he exposed their underground dealings.

Sources

Tucker, 1997;

De Beer, 1995;

Joyce, 1999

Wikipedia [1]

Offical Miriam Makeba Website [2]

Return to

Return to ESAT Personalities M

Return to The ESAT Entries

Return to Main Page