Miriam Makeba

Miriam Makeba (born March 4, 1932) is a South African singer, also known by the name Mama Afrika.

Biography

She was born in Johannesburg in 1932; her mother was a Swazi sangoma and her father, who died when she was six, was a Xhosa. Her professional career began in the 1950s with the Manhattan Brothers, before she formed her own group, The Skylarks, singing a blend of jazz and traditional melodies of South Africa. In 1959, she performed in the musical King Kong alongside Hugh Masekela, her future husband. Though she was a successful recording artist, she was only receiving a few dollars for each recording session and no provisional royalties, and was keen to go to the US. Her break came when she starred in the anti-apartheid documentary Come Back, Africa (1960). When the Italian government invited her to the premier of the film at the Venice Film Festival, she decided privately not to return home. Her South African passport was revoked shortly afterwards.

Makeba then travelled to London where she met Harry Belafonte who assisted her in gaining entry and fame in the United States. She released many of her most famous hits there including "Pata Pata", "The Click Song" ("Qongqothwane" in Xhosa), and "Malaika". In 1966, Makeba received the Grammy Award for Best Folk Recording together with Harry Belafonte for An Evening With Belafonte/Makeba. The latter album dealt with the political plight of black South Africans under apartheid. In 1963, after an impassioned testimony before the United Nations Committee Against Apartheid, her records were banned in South Africa and her South African citizenship and her right to return to the country were revoked.

Her marriage to Trinidadian civil rights activist and Black Panther leaderStokely Carmichael in 1968 caused controversy in the United States, and her record deals and tours were cancelled. As a result of this, the couple moved to Guinea, where they became close with President Ahmed Sékou Touré and his wife. Makeba separated from Carmichael in 1973, and continued to perform primarily in Africa, South America and Europe. She also served as a Guinean delegate to the United Nations, for which she won the Dag Hammarskjöld Peace Prize in 1986.

After the death of her only daughter Bongi Makeba in 1985, she moved to Brussels. in 1987, she appeared in Paul Simon's Graceland tour. Shortly thereafter she published her autobiography Makeba: My Story ISBN 0-453-00561-6).

Nelson Mandela persuaded her to return to South Africa in 1990. In 1992 she then starred in the film Sarafina!, about the 1976 Soweto youth uprisings, as the title character's mother, Angelina. She also took part in the 2002 documentary Amandla!: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony where she and others recalled the days of Apartheid. In 2001 she was awarded the Otto Hahn Peace Medal in Gold 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 14 month worldwide farewell tour in 2005, holding concerts in all of those countries that she had visited during her working life.

Discography

Albums

• Miriam Makeba, 1960
• The World Of Miriam Makeba, 1962
• Makeba, 1963
• Makeba Sings, 1965
• An Evening With Belafonte/Makeba (with Harry Belafonte), 1965
• The Click Song, 1965
• All About Makeba, 1966
• Malaisha, 1966
• The Promise, 1974
• Country Girl, 1975
• Pata Pata, 1977
• Sangoma, 1988
• Welela, 1989
• Eyes On Tomorrow, 1991
• Sing Me A Song, 1993
• A Promise, 1994
• Live From Paris & Conakry, 1998
• Homeland, 2000
• Keep Me In Mind, 2002
• Reflections, 2004

Compilations

• Africa 1960-65 recordings, 1991
• The Best Of Miriam Makeba & The Skylarks 1956-59 recordings, 1998
• Mama Africa: The Very Best Of Miriam Makeba, 2000
• The Guinea Years, 2001
• The Definitive Collection, 2002
• The Best Of The Early Years, 2003

See also

• Culture of South Africa
• Grammy Awards of 1966

References

• BBC - Music / Artist Biography - Miriam Makeba. Retrieved on 2006-09-15. (Link broken as of 26 January, 2007).
• Nkrumah, Gamal (2001-11-17). Sing it loud, sing it strong. Al-Ahram Weekly. Retrieved on 2006-09-15.
• copy sent to mailing list of article Legendary singer, diplomat turns 70 by James Hall, published in the Michigan Citizen, accessed 15 September 2006

Wikipedia information about Miriam Makeba This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Miriam Makeba". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.