Miriam Makeba used her voice against apartheid

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By NORMAN (OTIS) RICHMOND

Several of my son’s friends organized a small birthday celebration for
him this past Sunday. They invited me to hang out with them and I
thought I’d bring a couple of DVDs for the occasion.

One of my picks was Alicia Keys’ The Diary of Alicia Keys. I like the
international favour of the DVD, which shows Keys in many countries. One
of the spots she visited was South Afrika. One scene flashed on the
screen showed Keys and “Mama Afrika”Miriam Makeba, together at a piano.
I told the gathering “That’s Miriam Makeba “Mama Afrika”.

I have been playing Makeba’s music on both of my shows, “Diasporic
Music” and “Saturday Morning Live” on CKLN-FM for some reason. After I
came home, my phone started ringing the news was dreadful Miriam Makeba
had died after a concert in Italy. One of the calls came from Ayuko
Babu, the executive director of the Pan African Film Festival. Babu, who
had spent time with Makeba in Guinea, was clearly upset and I could
sense in his voice that Afrika and the world had lost a genuine icon.

Makeba was born in Johannesburg March 4, 1932–and joined the ancestors
on November 9, 2008). Ironically, Makeba’s passing came almost ten years
to the day of one of her five husbands Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael)
who passed on November 15, 1998. Makeba’s mother was a Swazi sangoma
and her father, who died when she was six, was a Xhosa.

One of the tallest trees in our forest, Harry Belafonte played a major
role in Makeba’s rise to fame. She documents how Belafonte "discovered"
her in London and bought the cream of the show business crop to check
out her opening date at the Village Vanguard in New York.

Says Makeba, "I cannot believe who Big Brother (Harry Belafonte) has
sitting with him and his wife: Sidney Poitier, Duke Ellington, Diahann
Carroll, Nina Simone and Miles Davis. I have admired these people for
years. They are great artists. And now they have come to see me."

“Makeba: My Story” discusses her relationship with such mentors as
Belafonte; her husbands, musical great Hugh Masekela and Pan-Afrikanist
Kwame Ture; her protectors, Afrikan statesman Sekou Toure; and her loyal
fans, including President John F. Kennedy.

She was one of the Afrikan and Afrikan-American entertainers at the 1974
“Rumble in the Jungle” match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman
held in Mobutu’s Zaire (which today is the Democratic Republic of
Congo). Her appearance is captured in the film “When We Were Kings”.

Nelson Mandela persuaded her to return to South Afrika in 1990 after
decades in exile. In the fall of 1991, she made a guest appearance in an
episode of The Cosby Show, entitled "Olivia Comes Out Of The Closet".

In 1992 she starred in the film “Sarafina”, about the 1976 Soweto youth
uprisings, as the title character's mother, "Angelina." She also took
part in the 2002 documentary “Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony
“where she and others recalled the days of apartheid.

After the death of her only daughter, Bongi Makeba, in 1985, she moved
to Brussels. In 1987, she appeared in Paul Simon’s Graceland tour.
Shortly thereafter she published her autobiography, “Makeba: My Story”.

I remember seeing Makeba in concert in Toronto once were she compared
Chaka the great Zulu warrior to France’s Napoleon Bonaparte. She
referred to Napoleon as the “White Chaka.”

While I never met Makeba, I did speak to her on the phone on several
occasions. During one of our conversation she singled out Denzel
Washington for his portrayal of Steven Bantu Biko, in the film, “Cry
Freedom”. I reviewed her autobiography for the Globe & Mail in 1988.

During pianist Randy Weston’s last visit to Toronto I gave him a copy of
Makeba’s My Story after he told me he had crossed paths with her during
Black History Month (Afrikan Liberation Month) in South Afrika.

Makeba was pro Afrika and pro-Afrikans and was influenced by and
influenced Afrikans in the West. She had a profound impact on popular
recording artists in the United States.

She clarified why the cultural boycott of South Africa should be
supported by all Afrikan people.

Says Makeba: "I am asked by . . . the Reverend Jesse Jackson, to come to
New York for the founding of his new organization, People United to Save
Humanity - PUSH. The American singer Aretha Franklin, whom I admire, is
co-ordinating the guest list. After the Operation PUSH ceremony, she
invites us to a birthday party she is throwing for herself at the
Americana Hotel.” I wish her a happy birthday, and she says, ‘Miriam, I
need your advice. I've been asked to go to South Afrika.’ In an instant
my mask of sociability drops. When it comes to this subject, I am always
very honest.

The authorities back home love to gain status and boost their image by
bringing international stars to perform in the clubs - clubs that are
for whites only. The UN has finally applied limited sanctions against
South Afrika, and one of these forbids artists from performing there.
But the Americans I speak to don't seem to know anything the UN does. I
hope that Aretha does not want me to give her my blessing for her trip.
But I don't have to worry; she seems to be sincerely concerned if it is
right.

"I tell her, 'Aretha, you are the Queen - the Queen of Soul. You have a
big name, and you are loved everywhere. I don't think you need a concert
in South Afrika. Whether you know it or not, you'd be helping the people
who oppress our brothers and sisters. No artists can go to South Africa
without getting dirty herself. It's true what they say, you can't roll
around with pigs and not end up covered with mud.' Aretha understands.

“She tells her managers to turn down the offer."

As a vocalist, Mama Afrika, enthralled millions from Cape Town to Nova
Scotia. As a woman, her struggles to find love and selfhood speak to
women worldwide. As an indigenous South Afrikan she has always used her
voice as a weapon in the struggle against apartheid.
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Norman Richmond is a Toronto-based writer/broadcaster/human rights
activist. Richmond can be heard on CKLN-FM 88.1 http://www.ckln.fm
Thursday's on Diasporic Music 8pm to 10pm and Saturday's on Saturday
Morning Live 10am to 1pm He can be reached norman@ckln.fm