Makeba gives farewell performance in TT

The concert, Miriam Makeba - In a Night of African Royalty, is being presented by the Emancipation Support Committee on the eve of this year’s Emancipation Day celebrations. There will be guest appearances by top local singers, Ella Andall and Singing Sandra.

Born in 1932 in South Africa, Makeba first came to prominence as a featured vocalist with the Manhattan Brothers in 1954. She soon left to record with her all-woman group the Skylarks, touring Southern Africa with Alf Herberts’ African Jazz and Variety, an 18 month tour that launched the careers of many African artists.

In 1959, Makeba’s incredible voice help win her the role of the female lead in the show, King Kong, a Broadway-inspired South African musical. She then went on to conquer America where she sang at President Kennedy’s birthday and worked in New York with Harry Belafonte creating such classics as “The Click Song” and “Pata Pata.”

In 1963 she testified about apartheid before the United Nations, as a result the South African government revoked her citizenship and right of return. She stayed in the US and in 1969 she married Trinidadian Stokely Carmichael, later known as Kwame Ture, a Black Panther leader. That began her exile from her South African homeland.

After harassment by US authorities Makeba fled to exile in Guinea. Makeba returned to world prominence in 1987 when she performed with Paul Simon on the Graceland tour. Shortly thereafter, she published her autobiography, Makeba: My Story.

Finally in 1990, after Makeba had spent 31 years away from her homeland carrying on the struggle against the racist apartheid system. Nelson Mandela persuaded her to return to South Africa. Two years later, she starred in the film Sarafina! about the 1976 Soweto youth uprisings.

Over the years, Makeba has won numerous awards. In 1966 she received the Grammy Award for Best Folk Recording together with Harry Belafonte. The following year she had a worldwide hit with “Pata Pata.”

In 2002, Makeba shared the Polar Music Prize with Sofia Gubaidulina. Two years later, she was voted 38th in the Top 100 Great South Africans.

Last year, Makeba started a 14-month worldwide farewell tour, holding concerts in all the countries she visited during her life. Trinidad and Tobago is the latest stop on that tour.