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Miriam Makeba, granddaughter, and band at WOMAD USA, 2000; Photos:
Scott Stevens
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Makeba: My Story
by Miriam Makeba with James Hall (New
American Library Books 1987)
This book was published in 1987, but I
read it only when doing research for my Spin the Globe special celebrating
Makeba's song "Pata Pata" and its many cover versions. Now
I'm sorry it took me so long. The book is an amazing account of apartheid,
as well as a memoir of Makeba's musical career.
Starting as an obscure (but loud) member
of the school choir, Makeba kept impressing people with her voice and
determination. And a lot of determination is required when growing up
as a second-class citizen in an oppressive system. Makeba had nearly
finished her public education when "apartheid" became a national
policy following the 1947 election and life for South African blacks
went from bad to worse.
Yet Makeba managed to get a singing career
started under this system. Sometimes it helped that most whites didn't
understand the songs: On her first record the Xhosa-language song Lakutshuna
Ilangu told of a man missing his lover. He says "I will
come looking for you everywhere/in the hospitals, in the jails/until
I find you" -those were the places black South Africans looked
for the missing. The song's "secret" Xhosa message was lost,
however, when the song was released in the US with new English lyrics:
"You tell such lovely lies with your two lovely eyes/When I leave
your embrace, another takes my place." Makeba asks: " What
has happened to my wonderful Xhosa song?'"
As conditions in South Africa degenerated,
Makeba's career started taking off. She left her country for the first
time to attend the premier of a movie in which she has a small part.
In Paris, she meets Harry Belafonte, who insists on taking her to the
US. At one of her first shows in New York, she looks out from backstage
to see the front table filled with Belafonte and his guests: Sidney
Poitier, Duke Ellington, Diahann Carroll, Nina Simone, and Miles Davis.
Her popularity soars, moderated by her realistic modesty, her problems
with the men in her life and her daughter Bongi, and the increasing
oppression by the South African government, which by this time has declared
her persona non grata.
The shine of this new world is also dulled
by her increasing awareness of racial problems in the US. On a trip
to Georgia she finds the American equivalent of apartheid. And when
she becomes romantically involved with black power leader Stokey Carmichael
she finds herself a political outcast in the US as well, and moves to
Guinea.
The trials and heartaches are enough to
make anyone's head spin. Yet this amazing woman kept her hope that her
people would someday be free. She kept performing and overcame the political
stigma that had forced concert cancellations and harassment in the US.
This year she released a triumphant new CD called Homeland (on Putumayo),
and she appeared before an enthusiastic crowd of thousands at WOMAD
USA. Although the book does not cover these most recent chapters in
her life, it's an amazing read, and a full explanation of why this woman
is known as "Mama Africa."
--©Scott Stevens, December 2000
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