As a child growing up in Jamaica, I remember hearing the sultry voice of South African legend Miriam Makeba as she sang about the scourge of Apartheid. I can hear Peter Tosh singing about “Mama Africa,” as Ms. Makeba was affectionately known. She was banned from her own country for more than 30 years because of the stance she took on the injustices. She died early this morning after collapsing on stage in Italy, a fitting place for her to spend her last moments. She was 76 years old.
In her dazzling career, Makeba performed with musical legends from around the world — jazz maestros Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie, Harry Belafonte, Paul Simon — and sang for world leaders such as John F. Kennedy and Nelson Mandela. “Her haunting melodies gave voice to the pain of exile and dislocation which she felt for 31 long years. At the same time, her music inspired a powerful sense of hope in all of us,” Mandela said in a statement. He said it was “fitting” that her last moments were spent on stage. Source ABC News
The Pineta Grande clinic in Castel Volturno, near the southern city of Naples, said Makeba died of a heart attack.
Makeba collapsed on stage Sunday night after singing one of her most famous hits “Pata Pata,” her family said in a statement. Her grandson, Nelson Lumumba Lee, was with her as well as her longtime friend, Italian promoter Roberto Meglioli. “Whilst this great lady was alive she would say: ‘I will sing until the last day of my life’,” the statement said.
Castel Volturno Mayor Francesco Nuzzo said Makeba sang at a concert in solidarity with six immigrants from Ghana who were shot to death in September in the town, an attack that investigators have blamed on organized crime. Yes, she took her last bow, fighting for a cause she believed in. Wow. That is profound on so many levels.
The death of “Mama Africa,” as she was known, plunged South Africa into shock and mourning. “One of the greatest songstresses of our time has ceased to sing,” Foreign Affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said in a statement. “Throughout her life, Mama Makeba communicated a positive message to the world about the struggle of the people of South Africa and the certainty of victory over the dark forces of apartheid and colonialism through the art of song.” Source: ABC News
The world has, indeed, lost a true champion. Someone who perserved in raising awareness of the plight of South African in her songs, despite the odds that were against her. She was the first African woman to win a Grammy award. Her rise to international prominence started when she starred in the anti-apartheid documentary “Come Back, Africa” in 1959. Ms. Makeba is survived by her grandchildren, Nelson Lumumba Lee and Zenzi Monique Lee, and her great-grandchildren Lindelani, Ayanda and Kwame.
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Filed under: Harry Belafonte, Mama Africa, Miriam Makeba, Nelson Mandela, Paul Simon, South Africa
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