Miriam Makeba (1932-2008), also known as Mama Afrika and the Empress of African Song, was one of the most visible and outspoken opponents of South Africa’s apartheid regime from the 1960s till its dismantling in the early 1990s.
A Grammy Award winning Afrobeat artist, Makeba died recently. She was 76.
Makeba was born on March 4, 1932, in Johannesburg. For eight years, she attended the Kilmerton Training School in Pretoria, where she sang in the school choir. As a teen, she helped her mother with the domestic work she did for white families after her father died when she was only six.
In 1950, Makeba joined an amateur group called the Cuban Brothers. She later formed her own group, The Skylarks, singing a blend of jazz and traditional melodies of South Africa. In 1959, she appeared in the semi-documentary anti-apartheid film Come Back, Africa, which drew the attention of international audiences. That same year, Makeba traveled to London and met Harry Belafonte, who had requested a private screening of the film.
Belafonte became her sponsor and promoter in the United States. Through him, she appeared on the Steve Allen Show, which led to nightclubs around New York City and recordings of South African music. Some of her songs became hits in the United States, including “Pata Pata”, “Malaika” and “The Click Song” (also known as “Qongqothwane”). Her music contained a political component, the denunciation of apartheid, which earned Makeba the hostility of the South African government, who revoked her passport when she attempted to return for her mother’s funeral in 1960. Makeba pressed on and, in 1963, she addressed a United Nations special committee on apartheid, characterizing South Africa as “a nightmare of police brutality and government terrorism.”
In 1968, Makeba married Stokely Carmichael, which caused controversy in the United States and her record deals and tours were cancelled. The couple moved to Guinea and became close friends of President Ahmed Sékou Touré and his wife. Makeba was appointed Guinea’s official delegate to the United Nations. In 1973, she separated from Carmichael and continued to perform primarily in Africa, South America and Europe. In 1986, Makeba was awarded with the Dag Hammarskjöld Peace Prize.
In 1991, after releasing Eyes on Tomorrow, Makeba gave her first live performance in South Africa since her departure more than 30 years earlier. That same year, she made a guest appearance in an episode of The Cosby Show. The following year, she starred in the film Sarafina!, about the 1976 Soweto youth uprisings, as the title character’s mother, Angelina.
In 2001, Makeba was awarded the Gold Otto Hahn Peace Medal by the United Nations Association of Germany (DGVN) in Berlin, “for outstanding services to peace and international understanding”. In 2002, she shared the Polar Music Prize with Sofia Gubaidulina. In 2004, Makeba was voted 38th in the Top 100 Great South Africans. Makeba started a worldwide farewell tour in 2005, holding concerts in all of those countries that she had visited during her working life.
On November 9, 2008, Makeba suffered a heart attack after singing her hit song “Pata Pata”, and was taken to the Pineta Grande hospital. Doctors were unable to revive her. In his condolence message, former South African president Nelson Mandela said it was “fitting that her last moments were spent on a stage, enriching the hearts and lives of others – and again in support of a good cause.”
According to her official website, “Whilst this great lady was alive she would say ‘I will sing until the last day of my life.’”
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Concrete Loop will feature ‘Black History Spotlights’ each week. These features honor black people through the years and submissions are welcome.
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RIP Miriam. U will be missed.
RIP Miriam…
Miriam Makeba & Nina Simone are women I want my daughter to look up to. Their fight for justice is an inspiration beyond measure.
Too bad artist these days don’t preach like them anymore.
R.I.P Mama Afrika
SHE WILL BE MISSED.
R.I.P. Mama Afrika ..SHE TAUGHT ME A LOT ABOUT APARTHIED AT AN EARLY AGE.
I remember when she appeared on the Cosby Show when I was little
@ mARIO i TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU.
I LET MY SON LISTEN TO ARTIST LIKE T NINA SIMONE, Mama Afrika
AND FELA KUTI, FEMI KUTI, ZAP MAMA AND COUNTLESS OTHERS FOR HIM TO GET A TRUE REFLECTION OF THE BROADNESS MUSIC REALLY HAS.
I hate to say that I’ve just discovered Miriam Makeba but I thoroughly enjoyed her song and her love in which she sang it. True music and true activism in which she lived her life will be greatly missed. The little girl dancing was too cute!!!
#5 thats where I remember her from!
They where gettin down in that video too. I saw a picture of her on CNN the other day, she was a really beautiful woman.
Wonderful.
About damn time this got mentioned….the woman died a week ago right?!
My mother talks about her all the time. She said at one point Ms. Makeba was married to a black panther, and they were considered a power couple of their time.
So sad, but at least she died doing what she enjoyed. I think i read she died directly after a performance, walking off stage.
R.I.P Mama Africa!
Bout time Concreteloop lol….i was waiting for this. I love love love Miriams music and she will be truly missed. Check out her performance on youtube of “Amampando” best performance i’ve ever seen, she was sooooo talented.
Check out the youtube performance of “Amampano” it won’t dissapoint!!!
@#5…me too. I had no clue who she was but I remember that song she did. Can’t say that I listened to her much, but I’ve heard snippets here and there of her and I liked what I heard. What a shame that I don’t have her and the likes in my rotation. I’m going to change that.
R.I.P. MAMA AFRIKA!! YOU WILL BE MISSED.
I like the way she sing RIP!
Is she shaking her thang in that video?! I watched it after I posted. Good energy and the little girl was too cute moving her miniature hips! lol
ha i love her.
and she will truly be missed.
pata is are well known song true.
but i was always inlove w/ Amampondo
http://www.anti-cheesecake.com
On t’ aime miriam RIP
#10: She died Sunday, Nov. 9, as mentioned in the post.
Angel and I discussed that she was definitely deserving for a Black History Spotlight, and since Thursday is BHS day, the post wasn’t published until then.
yea man, its so sad, but like Mandela Said she Died doing what she did BEST singing!!!
Rest in Paradise.
I agree with u KLIZZZY — that YOUTUBE perfromance is nIce, i was jammin out.
Amampond0 Live !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
][ sunrisesundown.blogspot.com ][
RIP miriam, a great and remarkable woman
Im South African and Miriam represented African women at their best=dignified, fearless, innately artistic, kind and beautiful in and out…Im blessed to have seen her peform live.Thanks cl for putting her on your black history spotlight
Rest in peace to a a timeless beautiful soul
I’m sorry to hear that Ms. Makeba has past, she is a moment in history. When she came out in the 60′s her music was selling in America like crazy. White folks and blacks were buying her sound and Hollywood had even used her in a film with her famous South African song “Pata Pata”. Everyone loved that song! Then when she married the powerful activist Stokley Carmichael, sh!t hit the fan. Carmichael was, you could say, more of the Black Panther and Malcolm X political path at that time. He was a very outspoken and powerful speaker. There are many documentaries about him and this period. When Ms. Makeba married him, her music for a very long time, was blacklisted by the music companies in the United States And for a long time her carreer completely fell in America because of her relation with Stokley .Carmichael. Ms. Miriam Makeba continued on as performer with a great deal of success in mostly Africa and Europe.
Rest in Peace South African Sister.
R.I.P MAMA AFRIKA
I saw Mama Afrika while I was living in South Africa, she was AMAZING, her voice her spirit her ability to connect with her audience. She will truly be missed.
i didn’t know she was married to Kwame Toure! She lived a wonderful life…
Me too@ the people saying they remember her from The Cosby show. I loved that episode. She had such a beautiful voice.
thanks for shouting out Mariam as a fellow African Im really sad…..RIP
I love ZULU, it’s a good song, A CAPELLA, sang with heart, like we, africans, love. RIP Miriam
One of the greatest voices of Africa. R.I.P. Mama Africa.
R.I.P. Miriam. And “Sarafina” is one of the best movies ever made. Everyone from all different walks of life should see it atleast once in their lifetime.
Wow CL I’m surprised you guys acknowledged her passing, not to doubt you or anything because you guys are on point in terms of substance. Being South African, I grew up listening to “Mama Africa”. My favorite is “The Click Song”. Her music made me very proud of my heritage. My sisters and I would gather around my late grandmother as she’d break down the meaning of each of our favorite songs. If interested in her music one cd I’d suggest you purchase is “Africa” a compilation of her recordings from the 60′s-70′s, it’s only $6.99 on Amazon.
Her voice is timeless and was an instrument for the culture and political movement she was not allowed to sing about during the time of Apartheid (hence her being exiled). She was about change. Which of course is what most South Africans including Nelson Mandela where about during that period.
Her wish was to die doing the thing she loved the most which was singing. RIP Mama Africa.
RIP my South African sister…
Wow, that’s crazy her last breath was used to belt out her legacy. Very interesting…
Wow. what a woman.
Thanks for the spotlight CL.
R.I.P. Mama Africa.
J. Dakar,
Thanks for writing about Ms. Makeba. But word of correction, she had NOTHING to do with Afrobeat music. Two entirely different genres, from two vastly different ends of Africa.
I went to youtube to check that Amapondo and her breathing for that was amazing, What does that mean anyway? I love her elegance and grace in her performances.
Yes Mario.. I want my future kids to look up to her as well.. Miriam Makeba was an Incredibly brave and strong woman.. they ought to make a movie about her.
And her song “Pata Pata” will ALWAYS have a Special Significance in my heart.. because I used to be a performer for Walt Disney World..and in Animal Kingdom’s Mickey’s Jammin Jungle Parade, they play her song EVERY DAY. It was a true pleasure to make so many people happy dancing and singing to that song..
So for all the friends of Minnie Mouse.. I want to you celebrate just a little more for Miriam..
God Bless her.
(read the wikipedia article for more info on her death.. it says she had a cognac after the concert, before she passed.)
Awwww I was too young to appreciate her, in her prime, but I think I will definitely learn much more about her.