Miriam Makeba – Mama Africa

/ historicallywoman

Posthumously labelled by Nelson Mandela as ‘South Africa’s first lady of song’, Miriam Makeba has been credited with bringing African music to the West. Her music earned her the moniker of Mama Africa, particularly among other Africans in New York City. She was a vocal campaigner against apartheid and often used her songs to spread awareness internationally, though she maintained that her music was not political.

Makeba’s full name was Zenzile Miriam Makeba. Her mother named her for the Xhosa word ‘uzenzile’, meaning ‘you brought this on yourself’, which her own mother (Miriam’s grandmother) would often mutter during her recovery after a difficult labour. Neither Miriam nor her mother were expected to survive but, somehow, both did. 

Makeba discovered music early in life, singing in church choirs and the choir of her primary school in Pretoria, where she received praise for her talents. She would sing in several languages, and later said that she learned to sing English before she could speak it. Further, she came from a musical family; her elder brother collected records and taught her songs, her mother played various traditional instruments, and her father played the piano.

Tragically, her father had died by the time Makeba was six, later forcing her to find work. She did domestic work and worked as a nanny, despite her naturally shy disposition. She married her first husband at seventeen and had her only child with him – a daughter named Bongi. Her husband, allegedly abusive, left her after two years, not long after Makeba had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She would overcome this illness, and a decade later she also overcame cervical cancer.

Her professional musical career began in an amateur all-male group called the Cuban Brothers. She soon became the lead vocalist (and only woman) in a different group named the Manhattan Brothers – South Africa’s top singing troupe of the 50s. She also joined the Skylarks, an all-female group, in 1956, though she received no royalties from her work with them. 

Miriam Makeba in 1969

It was during a performance with the Manhattan Brothers that Makeba met a young Nelson Mandela, who later said that he knew the girl “was going to be someone.” He was right.

Though her singing had made her famous across South Africa, her international fame would come from somewhere else entirely. She had a brief cameo in Lionel Rogosin’s anti-apartheid film, Come Back, Africa, which lasted just four minutes, during which she sang two songs. Despite only appearing on screen for a short time, Makeba made a great impression on viewers and she was flown out to attend the premiere at the 24th Venice Film Festival. 

She began travelling to perform, meeting American singer Harry Belafonte in London, who adopted her as his protégé. With him, she made her first solo recordings, including ‘Pata Pata’ and a version of ‘Qongqothwane’, a traditional Xhosa song she had first performed with the Skylarks. The latter is known in English as the ‘Click Song’ after the distinctive click sounds of the Xhosa language, due to the fact that Westerners could not pronounce the original name. Makeba made her US debut on 1 November 1959 to a television audience of 60 million. Despite her growing success, however, she still experienced financial insecurity and had to undertake work as a babysitter.

In 1960, the Sharpeville Massacre took place in South Africa, during which two of Makeba’s uncles were killed. Shortly after, her mother died but Makeba was unable to return home for the funeral as her South African passport had been cancelled. She (and her daughter, who would later join Makeba in the US) would live in exile for three further decades.

The incident was something of a turning point for Makeba; she became more politically conscientious and used her music to speak out against apartheid. As a result, her records were banned in South Africa and her citizenship revoked, though she would be granted honorary citizenship in ten different countries during her lifetime.

There are three things I was born with in this world, and there are three things I will have until the day I die-hope, determination, and song.

Miriam Makeba

She engaged in activism across Europe and the USA, involving herself in the American Civil Rights Movement and twice testifying at the UN against apartheid. Alongside friends such as Nina Simone, Makeba formed part of a collective of Black women performers who combined music with civil rights activism.

In 1966, Makeba and Belafonte received a Grammy for best folk recording for their album ‘An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba’. The album focused on the struggles of Black South Africans under apartheid, and Makeba’s use of lyrics in Swahili, Xhosa, and Sotho created an image of her as an ‘authentic’ representation of Africa. Shortly after, however, Makeba and Belafonte would stop recording together due to a disagreement.

Makeba’s career in the US declined after her third marriage to Black activist Stokely Carmichael in 1968. As a result, she accepted Guinean citizenship offered to her by President Sekou Toure and settled in Guinea once banned from returning to the US. She would later move to Belgium after her daughter’s death, now separated from Carmichael and with her two grandchildren in her care.

Miriam Makeba with Nelson Mandela

She continued to perform and tour across Europe and increasingly in Africa as countries became independent of European colonial powers. She also continued her activism and, in 1976, performed a song called ‘Soweto Blues’, named for the Soweto uprising during which hundreds of schoolchildren were killed. This song became a staple of her concerts, and was lauded for its “searingly upright lyrics”.

Makeba returned to South Africa in 1990 after Nelson Mandela’s release from jail. She performed there for the first time since her exile the following year. During the next decades, she began acting again and regularly performed around the world. In South Africa, she worked closely with the First Lady to help children and the disabled, and set up the Makeba Centre for Girls, an orphanage. 

She performed until her death in 2008. Her influence on politics and music cannot be overstated, and she has gone down in history as, according to historian Jacqueline Castledine, one of the “most steadfast voices for social justice”.

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