NewAfricanWoman Issue 49 - Flipbook - Page 31
MIRIAM MAKEBA
white audiences except on Thursdays when black
audiences were allowed. This is where film producer
Lionel Rogosin spotted Makeba and persuaded her
to feature in his controversial documentary film,
Come Back Africa.
This film depicted the harsh conditions under which
black South Africans were forced to live by the
apartheid government. Makeba’s short appearance
attracted attention, including an invitation to attend
the film’s premiere in Italy. Naturally, she agreed,
never imagining that because of her role in the movie
she would be banned by the apartheid state from
returning home, not even to bury her own mother.
This marked the beginning of her exile.
Promoting the film in London, Makeba met African
American folk singer and activist Harry Belafonte. He
would play a significant role in her career in the US,
forming half of the duet on their Grammy-winning
album An Evening with Belafonte & Makeba.
ART AS ACTIVISM
Her artistry extended beyond the stage, beyond
her impeccable vocals and her sophisticated
interpretations of international and South African
repertoire. Her very presence in the United States
stood as a form of activism against the apartheid
government who had attempted to silence her and
erase her from the consciousness of her people.
Makeba’s life in the US coincided with the parallel
experiences of black people in America and South
Africa suffering immense injustice, marginalisation,
racism and inequality. Like the struggle against
apartheid in South Africa, the Civil Rights Movement
in the US was a vehicle through which black
Americans protested. Academic Barber-Sizemore
describes Makeba’s voice as being “a surface onto
which Americans projected their own narratives
about Africa and American race relations”.
Her artistry, always informed by the circumstances in
South Africa, served as a razor-sharp awareness tool.
In journalist Gwen Ansell’s book Soweto Blues, the
late Hugh Masekela concurs that: “There’s nobody in
Africa who made the world more aware of what was
happening in South Africa than Miriam Makeba. This
was because of the way in which she described the
songs…unwittingly she educated African American
artists.”
Makeba would describe life in apartheid South Africa
when introducing her songs and would use every
opportunity to address inequality. As analysed by
academic Louise Bethlehem, Makeba’s work resisted
the apartheid state’s threat to dismantle the very
place of African art and culture in the world.
African Americans saw in Makeba not only what they
were but also the possibilities of what they could
become, expressed through song, dance, dress,
language and ideology. Makeba found commonality
with artists such as Nina Simone and Abbey Lincoln,
who historian Ruth Feldstein referred to as “an
| WOMEN in HISTORY
emergent collective of black women performers
who combined their music with civil rights activism”.
AESTHETIC AS ACTIVISM
What I appreciate most about Makeba is the way in
which she not only embraced but leaned into her
sexuality and sensuality. The way she moved her
body on stage was often provocative, drawing the
audience into her world. She understood acutely the
power of her black body and its curvature.
Her aesthetic of natural hair and minimal make up
(if any at all) communicated eloquently her strong
sense of self, rooted in her African identity free from
the expectations of western notions of beauty and
acceptability.
In remembering Makeba, we must guard against
confining her activism to the anti-apartheid
speeches she delivered at the United Nations in 1963
and 1976. Her activism was far more nuanced than
that. It was interwoven in her music, her delivery of
melodies, lyrics and artistic sentiment. Her artistry
was a lantern that burnt vigorously through one of
the darkest eras in history.
A LEGACY SPANNING GENERATIONS
Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong'o believes that
Africans singing in their native language is an
international act of decolonisation and a marker of
Pan African identity. Academic Aaron Carter-Enyi
acknowledged Makeba’s influence on other African
singers to sing in their mother tongues. Like Benin’s
Angelique Kidjo who sings in Yoruba, Mali’s Oumou
Sangare who sings in Mandinka and Nigeria’s Onyeka
Onwenu who sings in Igbo.
Makeba’s influence transcends generations to
reveal itself in contemporary cultural practices.
We are because she was. Makeba’s legacy is too
often suffocated by the complexity surrounding her
intellectual property as well as her relationships with
the men in her life.
Makeba was not just the wife of musician Masekela
or Black Panther leader Stokely Carmichael. She was
not Belafonte’s “discovery from South Africa”. She
arrived in America a consummate professional fit
for purpose.
The role of these male figures in Makeba’s life
may have been meaningful but it is also grossly
overstated. Makeba’s legacy is strong enough to
stand on its own two feet. Her name needs no
co-anchor. She fought more with her “artivism” than
many a man did with their armed weaponry.
It’s time to move beyond her widely-adopted
nickname “Mama Africa”. Makeba was a stalwart
and an icon of African liberation and identity. Her
legacy carved the way for future generations to live
a life of authenticity, fearlessness and bravery.
■
Nomfundo Xaluva, Lecturer, South African College of Music, University of Cape Town
(This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license)
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April 2023 New African Woman
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