Honoring Mama Africa: A Struggle of a Fearless Singer Told in a Daring Dance Drama

“When you speak about Miriam Makeba in South Africa, it’s like speaking about a queen,” explains Alesandra Seutin. Called the Empress of African Song, Makeba also associated in New York with renowned musicians like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Beginning as a young person sent to work to provide for her relatives in Johannesburg, she eventually served as an envoy for the nation, then Guinea’s representative to the United Nations. An vocal campaigner against segregation, she was the wife to a activist. Her rich story and impact motivate the choreographer’s latest work, the performance, set for its UK premiere.

A Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

The show combines movement, instrumental performances, and spoken word in a stage work that isn’t a straightforward biodrama but draws on Makeba’s history, especially her story of exile: after relocating to New York in the year, Makeba was prohibited from her homeland for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was excluded from the US after marrying Black Panther activist her spouse. The show resembles a ritual of remembrance, a deconstructed funeral – some praise, part celebration, part provocation – with a fabulous vocalist the performer at the centre reviving Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Power and poise … the production.

In the country, a informal gathering spot is an under-the-radar gathering place for locally made drinks and animated discussions, often presided over by a shebeen queen. Her parent Christina was a proprietress who was detained for illegally brewing alcohol when Makeba was a newborn. Incapable of covering the fine, Christina went to prison for half a year, bringing her infant with her, which is how her eventful life began – just one of the things Seutin learned when studying her story. “So many stories!” exclaims she, when we meet in the city after a performance. Her father is Belgian and she was raised there before relocating to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she founded her company Vocab Dance. Her South African mother would perform her music, such as the tunes, when she was a child, and dance to them in the living room.

Melodies of liberation … Miriam Makeba performs at Wembley Stadium in 1988.

A ten years back, Seutin’s mother had the illness and was in hospital in the city. “I paused my career for a quarter to take care of her and she was constantly asking for Miriam Makeba. It delighted her when we were performing as one,” Seutin recalls. “I had so much time to kill at the facility so I began investigating.” As well as learning of her victorious homecoming to South Africa in 1990, after the freedom of Nelson Mandela (whom she had met when he was a young lawyer in the 1950s), Seutin discovered that Makeba had been a breast cancer survivor in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter Bongi passed away in childbirth in 1985, and that because of her exile she hadn’t been able to be present at her own mother’s funeral. “Observing individuals and you focus on their success and you overlook that they are facing challenges like everyone,” says Seutin.

Development and Themes

All these thoughts contributed to the making of the production (first staged in the city in 2023). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was successful, but the concept for the work was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, she highlights threads of Makeba’s biography like memories, and nods more generally to the theme of uprooting and loss nowadays. While it’s not explicit in the show, she had in mind a additional character, a contemporary version who is a migrant. “And we gather as these other selves of characters linked with Miriam Makeba to welcome this young migrant.”

Melodies of banishment … musicians in the show.

In the performance, rather than being intoxicated by the venue’s local drink, the multi-talented dancers appear possessed by beat, in synthesis with the players on stage. Her dance composition includes various forms of dance she has learned over the years, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ personal styles, including urban dances like krump.

A celebration of resilience … the creator.

Seutin was surprised to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the group were unaware about the artist. (Makeba died in 2008 after having a cardiac event on the platform in Italy.) Why should younger generations discover the legend? “In my view she would inspire young people to stand for what they are, expressing honesty,” remarks the choreographer. “However she did it very elegantly. She’d say something poignant and then sing a lovely melody.” Seutin aimed to take the same approach in this production. “We see movement and listen to beautiful songs, an element of enjoyment, but mixed with strong messages and moments that resonate. This is what I admire about her. Since if you are being overly loud, people may ignore. They back away. Yet she did it in a way that you would accept it, and understand it, but still be graced by her talent.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is showing in London, 22-24 October