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“Discussing about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s similar to talking about a royal figure,” states Alesandra Seutin. Called Mama Africa, the iconic artist additionally associated in New York with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Starting as a teenager dispatched to labor to provide for her relatives in Johannesburg, she eventually became a diplomat for the nation, then the country’s official delegate to the UN. An outspoken anti-apartheid activist, she was the wife to a Black Panther. Her remarkable life and legacy inspire Seutin’s new production, Mimi’s Shebeen, scheduled for its UK premiere.

The Fusion of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

Mimi’s Shebeen combines movement, live music, and spoken word in a stage work that is not a straightforward biodrama but utilizes Makeba’s history, particularly her experience of banishment: after relocating to the city in the year, she was prohibited from her homeland for three decades due to her opposition to segregation. Subsequently, she was excluded from the United States after marrying Black Panther activist her spouse. The performance resembles a ritual of remembrance, a reimagined memorial – part eulogy, some festivity, some challenge – with the exceptional South African singer the performer at the centre bringing Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Strength and elegance … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the country, a shebeen is an under-the-radar venue for home-brewed liquor and animated discussions, usually presided over by a host. Her parent the matriarch was a shebeen queen who was arrested for illegally brewing alcohol when Miriam was a newborn. Unable to pay the penalty, Christina went to prison for six months, bringing her infant with her, which is how Miriam’s eventful life began – just one of the details Seutin discovered when researching her story. “So many stories!” exclaims she, when we meet in Brussels after a show. Her father is Belgian and she mainly grew up there before relocating to study and work in the UK, where she established her dance group Vocab Dance. Her South African mother would perform Makeba’s songs, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a youngster, and dance to them in the home.

Songs of freedom … Miriam Makeba performs at the venue in the year.

A ten years back, her parent had cancer and was in medical care in the city. “I paused my career for a quarter to look after her and she was always requesting the singer. She was so happy when we were singing together,” Seutin recalls. “There was ample time to kill at the facility so I started researching.” In addition to reading about Makeba’s triumphant return to South Africa in 1990, after the freedom of Nelson Mandela (whom she had encountered when he was a young lawyer in the era), she found that Makeba had been a someone who overcame illness in her youth, that her child the girl passed away in labor in the year, and that due to her exile she hadn’t been able to be present at her parent’s funeral. “Observing individuals and you focus on their success and you forget that they are facing challenges like anyone else,” states Seutin.

Creation and Concepts

These reflections contributed to the creation of the show (first staged in Brussels in 2023). Thankfully, Seutin’s mother’s therapy was successful, but the idea for the piece was to honor “death, life and mourning”. In this context, Seutin highlights elements of her life story like flashbacks, and references more broadly to the idea of uprooting and loss nowadays. While it’s not explicit in the show, Seutin had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these alter egos of personas linked with the icon to greet this newcomer.”

Melodies of banishment … performers in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the performance, rather than being inebriated by the venue’s home-brew, the skilled dancers appear possessed by beat, in synthesis with the players on stage. Seutin’s choreography includes multiple styles of movement she has learned over the time, including from African nations, plus the global performers’ personal styles, including urban dances like the form.

A celebration of resilience … the creator.

Seutin was surprised to find that some of the newer, international in the cast didn’t already know about the singer. (Makeba passed away in the year after having a cardiac event on the platform in the country.) Why should younger generations discover Mama Africa? “I think she would motivate young people to stand for what they believe in, speaking the truth,” remarks Seutin. “However she did it very elegantly. She expressed something poignant and then perform a beautiful song.” Seutin wanted to take the similar method in this work. “We see movement and listen to beautiful songs, an aspect of enjoyment, but mixed with strong messages and moments that resonate. This is what I respect about Miriam. Since if you are being overly loud, people won’t listen. They back away. But she achieved it in a way that you would accept it, and understand it, but still be blessed by her talent.”

• The performance is at London, the dates