🔗 Share this article

“If you talk about the legendary singer in the nation, it’s akin to referring about a sovereign,” remarks the choreographer. Known as Mama Africa, Makeba additionally associated in Greenwich Village with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Starting as a young person sent to work to provide for her relatives in Johannesburg, she eventually served as an envoy for Ghana, then Guinea’s representative to the United Nations. An outspoken anti-apartheid activist, she was married to a Black Panther. Her rich story and impact motivate the choreographer’s latest work, Mimi’s Shebeen, set for its UK premiere.

A Fusion of Movement, Sound, and Narration

The show combines dance, instrumental performances, and spoken word in a stage work that is not a straightforward biodrama but draws on Makeba’s history, particularly her story of exile: after relocating to New York in 1959, Makeba was prohibited from South Africa for three decades due to her opposition to segregation. Later, she was excluded from the US after wedding Black Panther activist her spouse. The show resembles a ceremonial tribute, a deconstructed funeral – part eulogy, some festivity, part provocation – with the exceptional vocalist Tutu Puoane leading bringing her music to dynamic existence.

Strength and elegance … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the country, a shebeen is an under-the-radar venue for home-brewed liquor and lively conversation, often managed by a host. Makeba’s mother Christina was a proprietress who was arrested for illegally brewing alcohol when Miriam was a newborn. Incapable of covering the fine, Christina was incarcerated for half a year, taking her infant with her, which is how her remarkable journey began – just one of the things Seutin discovered when studying Makeba’s life. “So many stories!” says she, when we meet in the city after a show. Seutin’s father is Belgian and she was raised there before relocating to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she established her company Vocab Dance. Her parent would perform Makeba’s songs, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when Seutin was a youngster, and dance to them in the home.

Songs of freedom … Miriam Makeba sings at Wembley Stadium in the year.

A decade ago, Seutin’s mother had the illness and was in hospital in London. “I paused my career for a quarter to take care of her and she was always requesting Miriam Makeba. She was so happy when we were performing as one,” Seutin remembers. “There was ample time to pass at the facility so I started researching.” In addition to learning of Makeba’s triumphant return to South Africa in 1990, after the release of Nelson Mandela (whom she had encountered when he was a legal professional 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 1985, and that because of her banishment she could not attend her own mother’s memorial. “You see people and you look at their achievements and you forget that they are facing challenges like everyone,” states the choreographer.

Creation and Concepts

These reflections went into the making of the production (premiered in the city in 2023). Thankfully, Seutin’s mother’s therapy was successful, but the concept for the work was to honor “death, life and mourning”. Within that, she highlights threads of Makeba’s biography like memories, and nods more generally 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 traveler. “And we gather as these alter egos of personas linked with the icon to greet this young migrant.”

Melodies of banishment … performers in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the performance, rather than being inebriated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the multi-talented dancers appear taken over by rhythm, in synthesis with the players on the platform. Her dance composition incorporates multiple styles of movement she has learned over the years, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ own vocabularies, including street styles like krump.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

She was surprised to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the group didn’t already know about the artist. (Makeba died in the year after having a heart attack on stage in Italy.) Why should younger generations learn about the legend? “In my view she would inspire the youth to advocate what they believe in, speaking the truth,” remarks Seutin. “But she did it very elegantly. She expressed something meaningful and then perform a lovely melody.” She wanted to take the similar method in this production. “Audiences observe dancing and listen to beautiful songs, an element of entertainment, but mixed with strong messages and moments that hit. That’s what I admire about her. Since if you are shouting too much, people may ignore. They back away. But she achieved it in a way that you would receive it, and understand it, but still be blessed by her ability.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is showing in London, 22-24 October