Miriam Makeba (South Africa)
SPIRITUALS AND TRADITIONAL SONGS
Miriam Makeba |
Miriam Makeba is one of the legendary voices and figures of black
music of this century. Born in South Africa during the apartheid,
influenced by Gospel and the songs of traditional healers, she
began as a singer in 1952 with the Bubans Brothers.
In 1959 she appeared in a clandestine film which was openly anti-apartheid
"Come Back to Africa" which won her an invitation to
Europe where Harry Belafonte noticed her and took her under his
protection. Following this she got a swift promotion which led
her to sing in New York's Madison Square Garden for President
Kennedy.
Her position against the apartheid regime which she spoke out
against later in the United Nations court in 1963 pushed the South
African regime of the time to forbid her return to her country.
In de facto exile, she first settled in the United States.
Her marriage in 1968 with the American Black Panther leader Stockely
Carmichael caused her problems with the FBI and her concerts and
recordings were cancelled. The couple then went into exile in
Guinea, in Conakry, welcomed by President Sekou Touré who
offered them Guinean nationality and named them "special
ambassadors" of the Guinean cause to the Organisation for
African Unity and to the United Nations.
With assistance from the Guinean state, Miriam Makeba was thus
able to record several records in various styles and languages
of Africa, continuing to live in Conakry despite her divorce and
despite of the death of Sekou Touré.
In 1987 -1988 she took part in the world tour of "Graceland"
by Paul Simon.
She returned to her native country in 1991 with the end of the
apartheid regime and sang for the new President Nelson Mandela,
and then started once again her world tours and recordings.
As the author of international successes, including the famous
"Pata Pata reached the US top 20 in the 60s, Miriam Makeba
has never separated music from her commitment for the cause of
the liberty and against racial hatred.
During her exceptional career, she has been received by great
figures of the world (Haile Sellasie, JF Kennedy, F. Mitterand,
Jean-Paul II) and has been one of the ambassadors of the black
people through her human and artistic qualities. Nicknamed Mama
Africa, Miriam Makeba is one of the most charismatic personalities
of our time and an example for the young generation.
(from François Bensignor)
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