Celebrating Miriam Makeba: The Journey of a Courageous Singer Portrayed in a Bold Dance Drama

“If you talk about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s similar to talking about a royal figure,” remarks Alesandra Seutin. Known as the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist additionally spent time in New York with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Starting as a young person dispatched to labor to support her family in the city, she eventually served as an envoy for Ghana, then Guinea’s official delegate to the UN. An vocal anti-apartheid activist, she was married to a activist. This rich life and legacy inspire the choreographer’s new production, the performance, set for its UK premiere.

A Fusion of Movement, Sound, and Narration

The show combines movement, live music, and oral storytelling in a theatrical piece that isn’t a simple biography but draws on her past, particularly her experience of banishment: after relocating to New York in 1959, Makeba was barred from her homeland for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was banned from the United States after marrying activist her spouse. The performance resembles a ritual of remembrance, a reimagined memorial – some praise, some festivity, part provocation – with the fabulous vocalist the performer leading reviving Makeba’s songs to dynamic existence.

Strength and elegance … the production.

In South Africa, a informal gathering spot is an under-the-radar gathering place for home-brewed liquor and lively conversation, often presided over by a host. Makeba’s mother the matriarch was a shebeen queen who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was a newborn. Incapable of covering the penalty, Christina was incarcerated for six months, bringing her baby with her, which is how her remarkable journey started – just one of the details the choreographer discovered when researching her story. “So many stories!” says Seutin, when we meet in Brussels after a show. Seutin’s father is from Belgium and she was raised there before relocating to study and work in the UK, where she established her company Vocab Dance. Her parent would sing Makeba’s songs, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when Seutin was a child, and dance to them in the living room.

Melodies of liberation … Miriam Makeba sings at the venue in 1988.

A decade ago, Seutin’s mother had cancer and was in medical care in London. “I stopped working for a quarter to take care of her and she was constantly asking for Miriam Makeba. It delighted her when we were singing together,” she recalls. “I had so much time to kill at the hospital so I began investigating.” In addition to learning of Makeba’s triumphant return to South Africa in 1990, after the release of the leader (whom she had met when he was a legal professional in the era), she discovered that she had been a someone who overcame illness in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter the girl passed away in labor in the year, and that because of her banishment she hadn’t been able to attend her parent’s funeral. “You see people and you focus on their achievements and you forget that they are struggling like everyone,” says Seutin.

Development and Concepts

These reflections contributed to the making of the production (premiered in Brussels in 2023). Fortunately, her parent’s treatment was effective, but the idea for the piece was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. Within that, she pulls out elements of her life story like memories, and nods more generally to the idea of displacement and dispossession nowadays. Although it’s not explicit in the show, Seutin had in mind a additional character, a contemporary version who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these other selves of characters connected to the icon to welcome this young migrant.”

Rhythms of exile … performers in the show.

In the performance, rather than being intoxicated by the shebeen’s local drink, the skilled performers appear taken over by beat, in harmony with the musicians on the platform. Seutin’s choreography incorporates various forms of dance she has absorbed over the years, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the international cast’ own vocabularies, including street styles like the form.

Honoring strength … the creator.

Seutin was taken aback to find that some of the newer, international in the cast didn’t already know about the singer. (She died in 2008 after having a cardiac event on the platform in Italy.) Why should younger generations discover Mama Africa? “I think she would inspire the youth to advocate what they are, speaking the truth,” says Seutin. “However she accomplished this very gracefully. She expressed something meaningful and then sing a beautiful song.” Seutin aimed to take the similar method in this production. “Audiences observe dancing and listen to melodies, an element of enjoyment, but mixed with powerful ideas and moments that resonate. This is what I respect about Miriam. Since if you are shouting too much, people may ignore. They retreat. Yet she did it in a manner that you would receive it, and hear it, but still be blessed by her talent.”

• The performance is showing in the city, 22-24 October