“Her earning the name ‘Mama Africa’ was basically saying she understood that she had to lend her talent to the fight for the liberation of black people around the world,” said Niyi Coker, E. Desmond Lee Distinguished Professor of Theatre and Media Studies at The University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Coker first introduced St. Louis audiences to the late South African music legend Miriam Makeba, known globally as Mama Africa, when he presented Mika Kaurismäki’s documentary “Mama Africa” as part of his annual Africa World Documentary Film Festival back in 2013.
When he himself watched the film, he saw the potential in Makeba’s life story for a magnificent piece of musical theatre, so he went to work at creating it.
“Miriam Makeba: Mama Africa the Musical” debuted in South Africa this past winter and, after a critically acclaimed and commercially successful run in her native South Africa, it will make its North American premiere next week at the Touhill.
“I felt like it was time – especially with all of the problems that are going on here – to look at an icon like Miriam Makeba,” Coker said. “In terms of dealing with the struggle on two continents – the USA and Africa – she did a lot for the movement. She kept Mandela’s name alive while he was in prison. She lifted the consciousness of everyone in the world, as far as the struggles of people of African descent.”
The singer and activist became an international sensation in the 1950s as part of the first wave of artists to popularize African music outside of the continent. As she introduced global audiences to the beauty of the music of the diaspora, Makeba also informed them of the tragic circumstances faced by her people due to apartheid. The South African government responded by canceling her passport in 1960.
“She sacrificed her life for this movement,” Coker said. “She was persona non grata in her own home.”
Fellow singer and activist Harry Belafonte took Makeba under his wing in the early 1960s. She enjoyed initial success in the United States – and even sang for President John F. Kennedy.
During that period, she also provided testimony to the United Nations about the ills of apartheid, which caused South Africa to permanently revoke her passport and later ban her music. She was unable to return for nearly 30 years.
But her marriage to radical civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael stopped her U.S. career in its tracks. “There should be more about her,” Coker said. “The fact that she escaped South Africa and all the years of apartheid only to come to the U.S. and experience the same problem – and exercised the freedom to marry who she wanted, which cost her her career in the United States. There was a major irony there.”
St. Louis audiences will see her life unfold, understand the sacrifices she made, and hear the beautiful music which served as her own personal soundtrack as the 40-person cast of South African natives tells the story.” “Miriam Makeba: Mama Africa the Musical” shares the crushing heartbreak and magnificent triumphs she experienced over the course of her career and life.
“The biggest joy in this is that a whole new generation is going to be introduced to her – even in South Africa, there are a lot of kids who don’t know who she is,” Coker said. “When the younger generation in the cast began to hear the music and the stories, they said ‘Oh, our parents used to listen to this woman.’ You have to remember that her music was banned in South Africa.”
Because of her activism, she was a woman without a country for many years. She fled the U.S. for Guinea, only to be forced to leave her home there for Brussels because of turmoil and political unrest. All the while, she kept the struggles of her homeland top of mind.
“She had a very global African perspective – and that Africa is not just a continent, but the African imprint is all over the world,” Coker said.
She fervently campaigned for Nelson Mandela’s freedom and the liberation of disenfranchised people of African descent everywhere, which led to her beloved moniker. It was Mandela who invited Makeba home for the first time in nearly three decades following his release from prison after 27 years and historic successful run for the presidency of South Africa.
She continued to lend her name to fight injustices experienced by all – particularly people of color – until her death in 2008 at age 76.
“I think that her story is one that people in St. Louis should know about – especially with the Ferguson situation,” Coker said. “Once they get to see this, they will see that there is a lot of hope and they can emulate her life and her passion.”
“Miriam Makeba: Mama Africa the Musical” will run from September 15-18 at the Anheuser-Busch Theatre inside the Touhill Performing Arts Center. For more information, call (314) 516-4949 or visit http://www.touhill.org/events/detail/makeba.
