Mama Africa's unforgettable legacy lives on

November 30, 2008 12:36 am

Johannesburg-born music legend Miriam Makeba, known to many as Mama Africa, died on Nov. 10. She was 76.

BERKELEY, Calif.

--The loss of Miriam Makeba is a blow to music lovers and human- rights activists the world over.

Throughout her career, the South African singer, activist, and cultural ambassador brought the music and beauty of Africa to the rest of the world. She was also an icon of the black-consciousness movement who helped lift up the collective psyche of members of the African Diaspora in the United States and beyond.

Makeba, who was often referred to as Mama Africa, collapsed and died on Nov. 10, soon after performing at a benefit concert near Naples, Italy, for a threatened journalist. She was 76.

Born in Johannesburg on March 4, 1932, Miriam Makeba began her professional career singing in the mid-1950s with vocal groups that mixed traditional African folk songs with jazz. It wasn't long before she was garnering international attention, thanks, in part, to performer Harry Belafonte, who met Makeba in London and helped introduce her to U.S. audiences.

Makeba and her one-time husband, Hugh Masekela, opened many Western ears--including mine--to the lilting melodies and polyrhythms of African music. As a child who was raised on the sounds of Motown and "American Bandstand," I remember feeling awakened by the bubbling beats and harmonies of Makeba's and Masekela's music.

Miriam Makeba was more than a uniquely talented musician and performing artist; she was also a social icon who brought African style, beauty, and intelligence to prominence. It's easy to forget that in the early 1960s when Makeba was gaining popularity in the United States, the concept of "Black is beautiful" was a new and radical idea. It was a time when many educated people dismissed the entire continent of Africa as primitive and backward. Makeba's sophistication and dignity were a powerful counter to those ignorant notions.

Although Makeba frequently said that she was not a political singer, she was an outspoken social and political activist. Her appearance in the 1959 anti-apartheid documentary "Come Back, Africa," along with her vocal criticism of the South African government, led to the revocation of her passport in 1960 and an exile that lasted three decades.

She continued to speak out against apartheid and injustice during her career, including testifying at the United Nations in 1963. "We all want the same thing: a decent life, peace, love," she wrote in her autobiography, "Makeba: My Story."

Her marriage to civil-rights leader Stokely Car-michael in 1968 endeared her to many blacks, but his leadership role in the Black Power movement frightened others, including many in the music business. It led to a professional exile for Makeba that almost ended her career. After her recording label reneged on her contract, she and Carmichael moved to Guinea in West Africa. She continued to perform, record, and collaborate with a variety of musical artists, including Dizzy Gillespie, Nina Simone, and Paul Simon.

Makeba endured many personal difficulties during her lifetime, but she was a fighter. As she wrote in her autobiography, "There are three things I was born with in this world, and there are three things I will have until the day I die: hope, determination, and song."

Fittingly, she has left us with all three.

Andrea Lewis is the host and producer of "Sunday Sedition" in Berkeley. She wrote this for Progressive Media Project.