Miriam Makeba was one of the world’s musical treasures, having gained international renown as a recording and performing artist and an important figure in the human rights movements in Africa and beyond. She was forced to spend most of her career away from her homeland after an impassioned anti-apartheid speech before the United Nations in 1963.
Miriam Makeba, whose real name was Zenzile Makeba, was born in Johannesburg on March 4, 1932. She started to sing at a young age, in her church and school choirs, and during other occasions. Her older brother had a jazz collection that she really enjoyed, specially singers like Billie Holliday, Sarah Vaughn and Ella Fitzgerald.
She never had the intention of becoming a professional singer until one of her cousins asked her to join his band, the Cuban Brothers.
Makeba became one of the biggest stars of South African jazz in the 1950s. Swing, rhythm and blues and big band jazz had taken South Africa by storm, resulting in a powerful jazz movement that served as the foundation for much of South Africa’s popular music. In their attempts to interpret the music they heard on records from America, township musicians incorporated their own influences, resulting in a bouncy, original style that came to be known as Marabi.
Makeba first gained notice in 1954 as a featured vocalist for the Manhattan Brothers, one of the most popular male vocal quartets. She soon left to form the Skylarks, an all-female vocal group and toured South Africa as part of an influential variety show. Her big break came in 1959, when she took on the female lead of the hit musical King Kong. Just as she was becoming a household name at home, Makeba left for the US, performing with Harry Belafonte and others. Her song “Pata Pata” was an international success in 1967, becoming the first African song to reach the United State’s Top 10 pop charts.
Makeba talked about her album ‘Pata Pata’ in her biography: “I wrote ‘Pata Pata’ back in 1956, back in South Africa. It was a fun little song and I was thinking of a dance that we do at home (“pata” means ‘touch” in Zulu and Xhosa).” Originally a hit in South Africa with her early vocal harmony group the Skylarks, the new recording, produced by Jerry Ragovoy, brought a lighter uptempo R&B arrangement, adding some English lyrics. “It was my first truly big seller. All of a sudden, people who never knew I had been in America since 1959 were asking me to be on their television shows and play at their concert halls during 1967. In the discotheques, they invented a new dance called the ‘Pata Pata’ where couples dance apart and then reach out and touch each other. I went to Argentina for a concert and, across South America, they are singing my song.”
Other songs on ‘Pata Pata’ included a version of the traditional Xhosa classic, ‘Click Song Number One’ (‘Qongqothwane’); ‘West Wind’, later famously covered by her friend Nina Simone; and a version of Tilahun Gessesse’s ‘Yetentu Tizaleny’ which Makeba learned on a trip to Addis to perform for Haile Selassie at the Organization Of African Unity.
Makeba’s dedication to human rights and political justice earned her great honors and recognition as a humanitarian leader throughout the world. Makeba was allowed to return to South Africa in 1990, and was embraced by Nelson Mandela and other leaders of the anti-apartheid movement for her struggles in exile.
She was honored many times, most notably the Grammy Award for best folk recording in 1965, and the Dag Hammarskjold Peace Prize in 1986.
Her published works include ‘The World of African Song’, edited by Jonas Gwangwa and E. John Miller, Jr., Time Books, 1971 and ‘Makeba: My Story’ an autobiography (with James Hall), published by New American Library in 1987.
In 2004, at the South African Music Awards 10, her album Reflections won two awards: Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best Adult Contemporary Album.
Miriam Makeba died November 9, 2008 in Castel Volturno, Italy.
In 2019, Strut Records released a remastered edition of Miriam Makeba’s ‘Pata Pata’, her first album recorded for Reprise in 1966. The new edition was mastered by The Carvery from the original reel to reel tapes, available in its mono and stereo versions for the first time. The Cd and LP physical formats featured brand new sleeve notes together with rare photos from the time of recording and session details.
Discography:
Miriam Makeba (RCA, 1960)
The Many Voices of Miriam Makeba (1962)
The World of Miriam Makeba (RCA, 1963)
The Voice of Africa (RCA, 1964)
Makeba Sings! (RCA, 1965)
An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba (RCA, 1965)
The Magic of Makeba (RCA, 1965)
The Magnificent Miriam Makeba (Mercury, 1966)
All About Miriam (Mercury, 1966)
Pata Pata (Reprise, 1967)
Makeba! (Reprise, 1968)
Keep Me in Mind (Reprise, 1970)
A Promise (RCA, 1974)
Miriam Makeba & Bongi (1975)
Country Girl (Sonodisc, 1978)
Comme une symphonie d’amour (Sonodisc, 1979)
Sangoma (Warner Bros. Records, 1988)
Welela (Gallo Record Company, 1989)
Eyes on Tomorrow (Gallo Record Company, 1991)
Sing Me a Song (1993)
Homeland (Putumayo, 2000)
Reflections (Gallo Record Company, 2004)
Forever (Gallo Record Company, 2006), compilation
Anthologies:
Her Essential Recordings: The Empress of African Song, 2 CDs (Manteca, 2006)
The Sound Of Africa, 3 CDs (Not Now Music, 2013)
Indispensable 1955-1962, 3 CDs (Fremeaux & Associes, 2015)
Original Album Classics, 5 CDs (Sony Music Canada, 2016)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.