🔗 Share this article

“When you speak about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s like speaking about a sovereign,” remarks the choreographer. Known as Mama Africa, the iconic artist additionally spent time in New York with jazz greats like prominent artists. Starting as a teenager dispatched to labor to support her family in Johannesburg, she eventually became a diplomat for Ghana, then Guinea’s official delegate to the UN. An vocal campaigner against segregation, she was married to a Black Panther. This remarkable story and impact motivate Seutin’s latest work, the performance, scheduled for its British debut.

A Blend of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

Mimi’s Shebeen merges movement, live music, and spoken word in a theatrical piece that isn’t a simple biography but utilizes Makeba’s history, especially her story of exile: after moving to New York in the year, she was prohibited from South Africa for 30 years due to her opposition to segregation. Subsequently, she was excluded from the US after marrying activist Stokely Carmichael. The performance resembles a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – part eulogy, some festivity, some challenge – with a exceptional South African singer the performer leading reviving Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Power and poise … the production.

In the country, a informal gathering spot is an under-the-radar gathering place for home-brewed liquor and animated discussions, usually managed by a host. Makeba’s mother the matriarch was a shebeen queen who was arrested for illegally brewing alcohol when Miriam was a newborn. Unable to pay the fine, Christina was incarcerated for six months, taking her baby with her, which is how her remarkable journey started – just one of the things Seutin learned when studying her story. “So many stories!” exclaims Seutin, when they met in Brussels after a show. Her parent is from Belgium and she was raised there before moving to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she founded her dance group the ensemble. Her parent would sing Makeba’s songs, such as the tunes, when she was a youngster, and dance to them in the home.

Melodies of liberation … Miriam Makeba sings at Wembley Stadium in 1988.

A decade ago, her parent had cancer and was in medical care in the city. “I paused my career for three months to look after her and she was constantly requesting the singer. It delighted her when we were singing together,” she remembers. “There was ample time to pass at the hospital so I started researching.” In addition to learning of Makeba’s triumphant return to South Africa in the year, after the freedom of the leader (whom she had met when he was a legal professional in the era), Seutin discovered that she had been a breast cancer survivor in her teens, that her child Bongi died in labor in 1985, and that because of her exile she could not be present at her parent’s memorial. “Observing individuals and you focus on their success and you overlook that they are struggling like anyone else,” says the choreographer.

Creation and Concepts

All these thoughts contributed to the making of the show (first staged in the city in the year). Fortunately, her parent’s therapy was successful, but the concept for the piece was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, she highlights elements of Makeba’s biography like memories, and nods more broadly to the theme of uprooting and loss nowadays. While it’s not explicit in the show, Seutin had in mind a additional character, a contemporary version who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these other selves of personas linked with Miriam Makeba to greet this young migrant.”

Rhythms of exile … musicians in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the show, rather than being inebriated by the venue’s home-brew, the skilled dancers appear possessed by rhythm, in harmony with the players on stage. Her dance composition incorporates various forms of movement she has absorbed over the years, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the global performers’ own vocabularies, including urban dances like krump.

Honoring strength … the creator.

Seutin was taken aback to find that some of the newer, international in the group were unaware about the singer. (Makeba died in 2008 after having a heart attack on the platform in the country.) Why should younger generations learn about the legend? “In my view she would motivate the youth to advocate what they believe in, expressing honesty,” says Seutin. “But she did it very gracefully. She’d say something meaningful and then perform a beautiful song.” Seutin aimed to adopt the similar method in this work. “Audiences observe movement and listen to melodies, an element of entertainment, but mixed with powerful ideas and moments that resonate. This is what I admire about her. Since if you are shouting too much, people may ignore. They retreat. But she did it in a way that you would receive it, and hear it, but still be graced by her talent.”

• The performance is at the city, 22-24 October