🔗 Share this article

“When you speak about Miriam Makeba in South Africa, it’s similar to talking about a royal figure,” explains Alesandra Seutin. Referred to as the Empress of African Song, Makeba additionally associated in Greenwich Village with renowned musicians like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Starting as a young person sent to work to provide for her relatives in the city, she eventually became a diplomat for Ghana, then Guinea’s official delegate to the UN. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was the wife to a activist. This rich story and impact motivate the choreographer’s new production, the performance, scheduled for its British debut.

A Fusion of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

Mimi’s Shebeen combines dance, live music, and oral storytelling in a theatrical piece that is not a straightforward biodrama but draws on Makeba’s history, especially her story of exile: after moving to New York in 1959, she was barred from her homeland for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was banned from the US after marrying activist her spouse. The performance is like a ceremonial tribute, a deconstructed funeral – part eulogy, part celebration, some challenge – with a exceptional South African singer the performer at the centre reviving Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Strength and elegance … the production.

In the country, a informal gathering spot is an under-the-radar gathering place for home-brewed liquor and lively conversation, usually presided over by a host. Makeba’s mother Christina was a shebeen queen who was detained for producing drinks without permission when Makeba was 18 days old. Incapable of covering the fine, she was incarcerated for half a year, bringing her infant with her, which is how Miriam’s eventful life started – just one of the things the choreographer learned when studying Makeba’s life. “Numerous tales!” says she, when we meet in the city after a performance. Seutin’s father is Belgian and she was raised there before moving to study and work in the UK, where she founded her dance group the ensemble. Her South African mother would sing Makeba’s songs, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when she was a child, and dance to them in the living room.

Melodies of liberation … the artist performs at the venue in 1988.

A ten years back, Seutin’s mother had cancer and was in medical care in the city. “I stopped working for a quarter to look after her and she was always asking for the singer. It delighted her when we were performing as one,” Seutin recalls. “There was ample time to pass at the facility so I began investigating.” As well as learning of her victorious homecoming to South Africa in 1990, after the freedom of the leader (whom she had met when he was a young lawyer in the era), Seutin found 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 due to her banishment she hadn’t been able to attend her own mother’s memorial. “You see people and you focus on their success and you forget that they are facing challenges like anyone else,” says Seutin.

Development and Themes

All these thoughts went into the making of the production (first staged in the city in 2023). Fortunately, her parent’s therapy was effective, but the concept for the work was to honor “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, Seutin highlights elements of Makeba’s biography like memories, and references more generally to the theme of uprooting and loss nowadays. While it’s not overt in the show, she had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a traveler. “And we gather as these alter egos of characters linked with Miriam Makeba to greet this newcomer.”

Melodies of banishment … musicians in the show.

In the performance, rather than being inebriated by the shebeen’s local drink, the skilled dancers appear possessed by rhythm, in harmony with the musicians on stage. Her choreography includes multiple styles of movement she has learned over the years, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the global performers’ personal styles, including urban dances like the form.

Honoring strength … the creator.

She was surprised to find that some of the newer, international in the cast were unaware about the singer. (Makeba passed away in the year after having a heart attack on the platform in Italy.) Why should younger generations learn about Mama Africa? “I think she would motivate young people to advocate what they are, speaking the truth,” remarks Seutin. “But she did it very elegantly. She’d say something meaningful and then sing a lovely melody.” Seutin aimed to adopt the same approach in this production. “Audiences observe dancing and listen to melodies, an aspect of entertainment, but mixed with strong messages and moments that resonate. That’s what I respect about Miriam. Because if you are shouting too much, people may ignore. They back away. But she did it in a manner that you would accept it, and understand it, but still be graced by her talent.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is at the city, the dates