View source for Miriam Makeba

{{Short description|South African singer and activist (1932–2008)}}
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{{featured article}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Use South African English|date=May 2012}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Miriam Makeba
| other_names   = Mama Africa
| image         = Miriam makeba 01.jpg
| image_upright = 1.0
| alt           = Refer to caption
| caption       = Makeba during a performance in 1991
| birth_name    = Zenzile Miriam Makeba{{sfn|Redmond|2013|p=236}}
| birth_date    = {{birth date|df=yes|1932|3|4}}
| birth_place   = Prospect Township, [[Johannesburg]], [[Union of South&nbsp;Africa]]
| death_date    = {{death date and age|df=yes|2008|11|9|1932|3|4}}
| death_place   = [[Castel Volturno]], Italy
| occupation    = {{hlist|Singer|songwriter|actress|[[civil rights activist]]}}
| years_active  = 1953–2008
| children      = [[Bongi Makeba]]
| website       = {{URL|miriammakeba.co.za}}
| module        = {{Infobox musical artist|embed=yes
  | background  = solo_singer
  | genre       = {{hlist|[[Marabi]]|[[world music|world]]|[[African popular music|Afropop]]|[[jazz]]|[[township music|township]]}}
  | discography = [[Miriam Makeba discography]]
  | label       = {{hlist|Manteca|[[Strut Records|Strut]]|[[RCA Victor]]|[[Mercury Records|Mercury]]|[[Kapp Records|Kapp]]|[[Collectables Records|Collectables]]|Suave|[[Warner Bros. Records|Warner Bros.]]|[[Reprise Records|Reprise]]|[[PolyGram]]|Drg|Stern's Africa|Kaz|Sonodisc}}
  | past_member_of= {{hlist|Cuban Brothers|[[Manhattan Brothers]]|[[The Skylarks (South African vocal group)|The Skylarks]]}}
  }}
}}

'''Zenzile Miriam Makeba''' ({{IPAc-en|m|@|'|k|ei|b|@}} {{respell|mə|KAY|bə}},<ref>{{cite Collins Dictionary|Makeba|access-date=1 December 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite EPD|18|Makeba|page=302|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bfLXAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA302}}</ref> {{IPA|xh|máˈkʼêːɓà̤|lang|Zenzile_Miriam_Makeba_name.ogg}}; 4 March 1932&nbsp;– 9 November 2008), nicknamed '''Mama Africa''', was a South African singer, songwriter, actress, and [[civil rights activist]]. Associated with musical genres including [[African popular music|Afropop]], [[jazz]], and [[world music]], she was an advocate against [[apartheid]] and white-minority government in South Africa.

Born in [[Johannesburg]] to [[Swazi people|Swazi]] and [[Xhosa people|Xhosa]] parents, Makeba was forced to find employment as a child after the death of her father. She had a brief and allegedly abusive first marriage at the age of 17, gave birth to her only child in 1950, and survived breast cancer. Her vocal talent had been recognized when she was a child, and she began singing professionally in the 1950s, with the Cuban Brothers, the [[Manhattan Brothers]], and an all-woman group, [[the Skylarks (South African vocal group)|the Skylarks]], performing a mixture of jazz, traditional African melodies, and Western popular music. In 1959, Makeba had a brief role in the anti-apartheid film ''[[Come Back, Africa]]'', which brought her international attention, and led to her performing in Venice, London, and New York City. In London, she met the American singer [[Harry Belafonte]], who became a mentor and colleague. She moved to New York City, where she became immediately popular, and recorded her first solo album in 1960. Her attempt to return to South Africa that year for her mother's funeral was prevented by the country's government.

Makeba's career flourished in the United States, and she released several albums and songs, her most popular being "[[Pata Pata]]" (1967). Along with Belafonte, she received a [[Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording|Grammy Award for Best Folk Recording]] for their 1965 album ''[[An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba]]''. She testified against the South African government at the United Nations and became involved in the [[civil rights movement]]. She married [[Stokely Carmichael]], a leader of the [[Black Panther Party]], in 1968, and consequently lost support among white Americans.  Her visa was revoked by the US government when she was traveling abroad, forcing her and Carmichael to relocate to Guinea. She continued to perform, mostly in African countries, including at several [[Decolonisation of Africa|independence celebrations]]. She began to write and perform music more explicitly critical of apartheid; the 1977 song "[[Soweto Blues]]", written by her former husband [[Hugh Masekela]], was about the [[Soweto uprising]]. After apartheid was dismantled in 1990, Makeba returned to South Africa. She continued recording and performing, including a 1991 album with [[Nina Simone]] and [[Dizzy Gillespie]], and appeared in the 1992 film ''[[Sarafina! (film)|Sarafina!]]''. She was named an [[FAO Goodwill Ambassador]] in 1999, and campaigned for humanitarian causes. She died of a heart attack during a 2008 concert in Italy.

Makeba was among the first African musicians to receive worldwide recognition. She brought African music to a Western audience, and popularized the world music and Afropop genres. Despite her cosmopolitan background, she was frequently viewed by Western audiences as an embodiment of Africa: she was also seen as a style icon in both South Africa and the West. Makeba made popular several [[music in the movement against apartheid|songs critical of apartheid]], and became a symbol of opposition to the system, particularly after her right to return was revoked. Upon her death, former South African President [[Nelson Mandela]] said that "her music inspired a powerful sense of hope in all of us."

==Early years==
===Childhood and family===
Zenzile Miriam Makeba was born on 4 March 1932 in the black [[township (South Africa)|township]] of Prospect, near Johannesburg, as the only child of her father and the sixth of her mother. Her [[Xhosa people|Xhosa]] father, Caswell Makeba, was a teacher; he died when she was six years old. Her [[Swazi people|Swazi]] mother, Christina Makeba, was a [[domestic worker]]; she had previously separated from her first husband and met and married Caswell shortly afterwards.{{sfn|Allen|2011|loc=Makeba, Miriam Zenzi}}{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=34}}{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Early Years}} Makeba later said that before she was conceived, her mother had been warned that any future pregnancy could be fatal. Neither Miriam nor her mother seemed likely to survive after a difficult labour and delivery. Miriam's grandmother, who attended the birth, often muttered {{lang|xh|[[wikt:u-#Xhosa|u]][[wikt:zi-#Xhosa|z]][[wikt:enza#Xhosa|enz]][[wikt:-ile#Xhosa|ile]]}}, a [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]] word that means "you brought this on yourself", to Miriam's mother during her recovery, which inspired her to give her daughter the name "Zenzile".{{sfn|Carmichael|Thelwell|2003|pp=651–652}}

When Makeba was eighteen days old, her mother was arrested and sentenced to a six-month prison term for selling [[umqombothi]], a homemade beer brewed from malt and cornmeal. The family could not afford the small fine required to avoid a jail term, and Miriam spent the first six months of her life in jail.{{efn|South Africa had complex alcohol regulations which prohibited black South Africans from brewing alcohol, or from consuming it anywhere except beer halls run by local governments. Illegal brewing and consumption was common. The restrictions on consumption were largely removed in the 1960s; the state monopoly on production remained.{{sfn|Blocker|Fahey|Tyrrell|2003|p=12}}}}{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=34}}{{sfn|Schwarz-Bart|2003|p=208}}{{sfn|Castledine|2011|p=229}} By the time of her mother's release from prison, Makeba's father, who had been having difficulty finding work as a teacher, had obtained a job as a clerk at the [[Shell plc|Shell Oil Company]] in Nelspruit (now [[Mbombela]]) and the family moved along with him accordingly.{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Early Years}}<ref name="guardian"/> After her father's death she moved to the house of her maternal grandmother in Riverside Township outside of [[Pretoria]], along with her siblings and cousins, while her mother worked for [[White South African|white]] families in Johannesburg to support the family.{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Early Years}}<ref name=Jaggi>{{cite news|last=Jaggi|first=Maya|author-link=Maya Jaggi|title=The return of Mama Africa|website=[[The Guardian]]|date=29 April 2000}}</ref>

As a child, Makeba sang in the choir of the Kilnerton Training Institute in Pretoria, an all-black [[Methodism|Methodist]] primary school that she attended for eight years.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=34}}{{sfn|Bordowitz|2006|p=333}} Her talent for singing earned her praise at school.<ref name="guardian"/> Makeba was [[baptism|baptised]] and sang in church choirs, in English, Xhosa, [[Sotho language|Sotho]], and [[Zulu language|Zulu]]; she later said that she learned to sing in English before she could speak the language.<ref name="Jaggi"/>

Makeba was influenced by her family's musical tastes; her mother played several traditional instruments, and her elder brother collected records, including those of [[Duke Ellington]] and [[Ella Fitzgerald]], and taught Makeba songs. Her father played the piano and sang in a group called The Mississippi 12, and his musical inclination was later a factor in Makeba's family accepting what was seen as a risque choice of career.{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Early Years}}<ref name="Jaggi" />

Makeba left school to support her family and first worked as a live-in nanny for a Greek family in the Johannesberg suburb of [[Waverley, Johannesburg|Waverley]] for three months. The mother stopped paying her and went to the police to accuse her of stealing, so Makeba fled back to her grandmother's home in Riverside. Around that time Makeba's mother began the process of becoming a ''sangoma'' or [[traditional healers of Southern Africa|traditional healer]], which required her to go back to her ancestral homeland in [[Eswatini]] (then Swaziland). Makeba stayed behind working as a launderer for expatriate workers to support her family.{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Early Years}}

In 1949, Makeba married James Kubay, a policeman in training, with whom she had her only child, [[Bongi Makeba|Sibongile "Bongi" Makeba]], in 1950. Makeba was then diagnosed with [[breast cancer]], and her husband, who was said to have beaten her, left her shortly afterwards, after a two-year marriage.{{sfn|Allen|2011|loc=Makeba, Miriam Zenzi}}{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Umhome: Years of Lamentation}}<ref name="guardian">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/nov/11/miriam-makeba-obituary|title=Obituary: Miriam Makeba|website=The Guardian|date=11 November 2008|first=Graeme|last=Ewens|access-date=26 March 2012}}</ref><ref name="Jaggi" /><ref name="economist"/> A decade later she overcame cervical cancer via a [[hysterectomy]].<ref name="Jaggi" />

===Early career===
Makeba began her professional musical career with the Cuban Brothers, a South African all-male [[close harmony]] group, with whom she sang covers of popular American songs.{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=260}}{{sfn|Allen|2008|p=89}} Soon afterwards, at the age of 21, she joined a jazz group, the [[Manhattan Brothers]], who sang a mixture of [[music of South Africa|South African songs]] and pieces from popular [[African-American music|African-American groups]].{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=260}} Makeba was the only woman in the group.{{sfn|Ford|2015|p=15}} With the Manhattan Brothers she recorded her first hit, "Lakutshn, Ilanga", in 1953, and developed a national reputation as a musician.<ref name=Lusk/> In 1956 she joined a new all-woman group, [[the Skylarks (South African vocal group)|the Skylarks]], singing a blend of jazz and traditional South African melodies. Formed by [[Gallotone Records]], the group was also known as the Sunbeams.{{sfn|Allen|2008|p=89}}<ref name=Lusk/> Makeba sang with the Skylarks when the Manhattan Brothers were travelling abroad; later, she also travelled with the Manhattan Brothers. In the Skylarks, Makeba sang alongside [[Southern Rhodesia|Rhodesian]]-born musician [[Dorothy Masuka]], whose music Makeba had followed, along with that of [[Dolly Rathebe]]. Several of the Skylarks' pieces from this period became popular; the music historian Rob Allingham later described the group as "real trendsetters, with harmonisation that had never been heard before."<ref name="guardian"/><ref name="Jaggi" /> Makeba received no royalties from her work with the Skylarks.<ref name=Lusk>{{cite news|last1=Lusk|first1=Jon|title=Miriam Makeba: Singer banned from her native South Africa for fighting apartheid|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/miriam-makeba-singer-banned-from-her-native-south-africa-for-fighting-apartheid-1009604.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220515/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/miriam-makeba-singer-banned-from-her-native-south-africa-for-fighting-apartheid-1009604.html |archive-date=15 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=12 March 2015|work=The Independent|date=11 November 2008}}</ref>

While performing with the Manhattan Brothers in 1955, Makeba met [[Nelson Mandela]], then a young lawyer; he later remembered the meeting, and that he felt that the girl he met "was going to be someone."<ref name="Jaggi" /> With the Manhattan Brothers, Makeba recorded "Lakutshona Ilanga",{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Early Career}}{{efn|The song is also referred to as "Lakutshn Ilanga".{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=62}}}} written by [[Mackay Davashe]]. The song's popularity prompted requests for an English version, and in 1956, [[Gallo Record Company|Gallotone Records]] released "Lovely Lies", Makeba's first solo success and first recording in English.<ref name="Jaggi" />{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Early Career}} However, the Xhosa lyric about a man looking for his beloved in jails and hospitals was replaced with the unrelated and innocuous line "You tell such lovely lies with your two lovely eyes" in the English version. The piece became the first South African record to chart on the United States [[Billboard Top 100]].<ref name="Jaggi" /> In 1957, Makeba was featured on the cover of ''[[Drum (South African magazine)|Drum]]'' magazine.{{sfn|Ford|2015|p=18}}

[[File:Harry Belafonte singing 1954.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The American singer [[Harry Belafonte]] met Makeba in London and adopted her as his protégé.|alt=A young black man singing]]

In 1959, Makeba sang the lead female role in the [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]]-inspired South African jazz opera ''[[King Kong (1959 musical)|King Kong]]'';{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=34}}{{sfn|Bordowitz|2006|p=333}} among those in the cast was the musician [[Hugh Masekela]].{{sfn|Bordowitz|2006|p=246}} The musical was performed to racially integrated audiences, raising her profile among white South Africans.<ref name="guardian"/> Also in 1959, she had a short guest appearance in ''[[Come Back, Africa]]'', an anti-apartheid film produced and directed by the American independent filmmaker [[Lionel Rogosin]].{{sfn|Schwarz-Bart|2003|p=214}} Rogosin cast her after seeing her on stage in ''African Jazz and Variety'' show,{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=57}} on which Makeba was a performer for 18 months.<ref name="RP" /> The film blended elements of documentary and fiction and had to be filmed in secret as the government was expected to be hostile to it. Makeba appeared on stage, and sang two songs: her appearance lasted four minutes.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|pp=56–57}} The [[cameo appearance|cameo]] made an enormous impression on viewers, and Rogosin organised a visa for her to attend the [[premiere]] of the film at the twenty-fourth [[Venice Film Festival]] in Italy, where the film won the prestigious Critics' Choice Award.{{sfn|Schwarz-Bart|2003|p=214}}{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=63}} Makeba's presence has been described as crucial to the film, as an emblem of cosmopolitan black identity that also connected with working-class black people due to the dialogue being in Zulu.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|pp=62–63}}

Makeba's role in ''Come Back, Africa'' brought her international recognition and she travelled to London and New York to perform.{{sfn|Allen|2008|p=89}}<ref name="RP" /> In London she met the American singer [[Harry Belafonte]], who became her mentor, helping her with her first solo recordings.{{sfn|Bordowitz|2006|p=313}}{{sfn|Fleming|2016|p=315}} These included "[[Pata Pata]]",{{efn|Though Makeba is generally credited with writing this song,<ref name="RP" /> scholars have questioned this claim, instead attributing the piece to [[Dorothy Masuka]].{{sfn|Khan|2008|p=146}} }} which would be released many years later, and a version of the traditional Xhosa song "[[The Click Song|Qongqothwane]]", which she had first performed with the Skylarks.<ref name="guardian"/> Though "Pata Pata"—described by [[Musician (magazine)|''Musician'' magazine]] as a "groundbreaking Afropop gem"<ref name="Cheyney 1990"/>—became her most famous song, Makeba described it as "one of my most insignificant songs".{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=258}} While in England, she married Sonny Pillay,{{efn|Makeba's second husband has also been referred to as "Shunna Pillay".{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Early Career}}}} a South African ballad singer of Indian descent; they divorced within a few months.{{sfn|Allen|2011|loc=Makeba, Miriam Zenzi}}

Makeba then moved to New York, making her US music debut on 1 November 1959 on ''[[The Steve Allen Show]]'' in [[Los Angeles]] for a television audience of 60 million.{{sfn|Allen|2011|loc=Makeba, Miriam Zenzi}}{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=33}} Her New York debut at the [[Village Vanguard]] occurred soon after;{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=256}} she sang in Xhosa and Zulu, and performed a [[Yiddish]] folk song.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=51}} Her audience at this concert included [[Miles Davis]] and Duke Ellington; her performance received strongly positive reviews from critics.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=33}} She first came to popular and critical attention in jazz clubs,{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=30}} after which her reputation grew rapidly.{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=256}} Belafonte, who had helped Makeba with her move to the US, handled the logistics for her first performances.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=52}} When she first moved to the US, Makeba lived in [[Greenwich Village]], along with other musicians and actors.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=27}} As was common in her profession, she experienced some financial insecurity, and worked as a [[babysitting|babysitter]] for a period.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=28}}

==Exile==

===United States===
====Breakthrough====
{{Quote box
 | quote  = I always wanted to leave home. I never knew they were going to stop me from coming back. Maybe, if I knew, I never would have left. It is kind of painful to be away from everything that you've ever known. Nobody will know the pain of exile until you are in exile. No matter where you go, there are times when people show you kindness and love, and there are times when they make you know that you are with them but not of them. That's when it hurts.
 | source = —Miriam Makeba{{sfn|Bordowitz|2006|p=247}}
 | width  = 220px
 | align  = right
 | salign = right
}}

Soon after the [[Sharpeville massacre]] in 1960, Makeba learned that her mother had died. When she tried to return home for the funeral, she found that her South African passport had been cancelled.<ref name="guardian"/>{{sfn|Poet|2009|p=1}} Makeba would remain in exile until 1990.{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Welela: Crossing Over}} Two of Makeba's uncles were killed in the massacre. The incident left her concerned about her family, many of whom were still in South Africa, including her daughter: the nine-year-old Bongi joined her mother in the US in August 1960.<ref name="RP" />{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=68}}{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Mama Africa: The Grieving Years}} During her first few years in the US, Makeba had rarely sung explicitly political music, but her popularity had led to an increase in awareness of apartheid and the anti-apartheid movement.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=19}} Following the Sharpeville killings, Makeba felt a responsibility to help, as she had been able to leave the country while others had not.{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|pp=261–262}} From this point, she became an increasingly outspoken critic of apartheid and the white-minority government; before the massacre, she had taken care to avoid overtly political statements in South Africa.{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|pp=261–262}}

Her musical career in the US continued to flourish. She signed a recording contract with  [[RCA Records|RCA Victor]], and released ''[[Miriam Makeba (album)|Miriam Makeba]]'', her first studio album, in 1960, backed by Belafonte's band.<ref name=Lusk/>{{sfn|Poet|2009|p=1}} RCA Victor chose to buy out Makeba's contract with Gallotone Records, and despite the fact that Makeba was unable to perform in South Africa, Gallotone received US$45,000 in the deal, which meant that Makeba received no royalties for her debut album.<ref name=Lusk/> The album included one of her most famous hits in the US, "Qongqothwane", which was known in English as "The Click Song" because Makeba's audiences could not pronounce the Xhosa name.<ref name="RP" /> ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine called her the "most exciting new singing talent to appear in many years", and ''[[Newsweek]]'' compared her voice to "the smoky tones and delicate phrasing" of Ella Fitzgerald and the "intimate warmth" of [[Frank Sinatra]].<ref name="Nkrumah 2001">{{cite magazine|last=Nkrumah |first=Gamal |title=Mama Africa  |date=7 November 2001 |issue=558 |magazine=[[Al-Ahram Weekly]] |location=Cairo |url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2001/558/profile.htm |access-date=15 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040307102456/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2001/558/profile.htm|archive-date=7 March 2004}}</ref> The album was not commercially successful, and Makeba was briefly dropped from RCA Victor: she was re-signed soon after as the label recognised the commercial possibilities of the growing interest in African culture. Her South African identity had been downplayed during her first signing, but it was strongly emphasised the second time to take advantage of this interest.{{sfn|Ford|2015|p=13}} Makeba made several appearances on television, often in the company of Belafonte.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=45}} In 1962, Makeba and Belafonte sang at the birthday party for US President [[John F. Kennedy]] at [[Madison Square Garden]], but Makeba did not go to the party afterwards because she was ill. Kennedy nevertheless insisted on meeting her, so Belafonte sent a car to pick her up.<ref name="Denselow">{{cite news|last=Denselow|first=Robin|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/may/16/worldmusic.jazz|title=The long goodbye|website=The Guardian|date=16 May 2008|access-date=14 November 2010}}</ref>

In 1964, Makeba released her second studio album for RCA Victor, ''The World of Miriam Makeba''. An early example of [[world music]], the album peaked at number eighty-six on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]].{{sfn|Poet|2009|p=1}}{{sfn|Ford|2015|p=13}} Makeba's music had a cross-racial appeal in the US; white Americans were attracted to her image as an "exotic" African performer, and black Americans related their own experiences of [[racial segregation in the United States|racial segregation]] to Makeba's struggle against apartheid.{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=255}}{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=67}} Makeba found company among other African exiles and émigrés in New York, including Hugh Masekela, to whom she was married from 1963 to 1968.{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=256}} During their marriage, Makeba and Masekela were neighbours of the jazz musician [[Dizzy Gillespie]] in [[Englewood, New Jersey]]; they spent much of their time in [[Harlem]].{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=26}} She also came to know actors [[Marlon Brando]] and [[Lauren Bacall]], and musicians [[Louis Armstrong]] and [[Ray Charles]].{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=256}} Fellow singer-activist [[Nina Simone]] became friendly with Makeba, as did actor [[Cicely Tyson]];{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=19, 25}} Makeba and Simone performed together at [[Carnegie Hall]].{{sfn|Castledine|2011|p=232}} Makeba was among black entertainers, activists, and intellectuals in New York at the time who believed that the civil rights movement and popular culture could reinforce each other, creating "a sense of intertwined political and cultural vibrancy"; other examples included [[Maya Angelou]] and [[Sidney Poitier]].{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|pp=22–25}} She later described her difficulty living with racial segregation, saying "There wasn't much difference in America; it was a country that had abolished slavery but there was apartheid in its own way."<ref name="Jaggi" />

====Travel and activism====
[[File:Miriam Makeba welcome.png|thumb|right|alt=Makeba standing before an aeroplane flanked by three men|Makeba being welcomed during a visit to Israel in 1963]]
Makeba's music was also popular in Europe, and she travelled and performed there frequently. Acting on the advice of Belafonte, she added songs from Latin America, Europe, Israel, and elsewhere in Africa to her repertoire.{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=256}} She visited Kenya in 1962 in support of [[Kenyan Independence|the country's independence]] from British colonial rule,{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=73}} and raised funds for its independence leader [[Jomo Kenyatta]].{{sfn|Fleming|2016|p=316}} Later that year she testified before the [[United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid]] about the effects of the system, asking for economic sanctions against South Africa's [[National Party (South Africa)|National Party]] government. She requested an arms embargo against South Africa, on the basis that weapons sold to the government would likely be used against black women and children.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=73}} As a result, her music was banned in South Africa,<ref name="RP" /> and her South African citizenship and right to return were revoked.<ref name="Jaggi" />{{sfn|Bordowitz|2006|p=333}} Makeba thus became [[statelessness|stateless]], but she was soon issued passports by Algeria,{{sfn|Ohadike|2007|p=203}} Guinea, Belgium and Ghana.{{sfn|Poet|2009|p=1}} Throughout her lifetime she held nine passports<ref name="Nkrumah 2001"/> and was granted honorary citizenship in ten countries.<ref name="Denselow"/>

Soon after her testimony, [[Haile Selassie]], the emperor of Ethiopia, invited her to sing at the inauguration of the [[Organisation of African Unity]]; she was the only performer asked to participate.<ref name="guardian" /> As word spread about her ban from South Africa, she became a ''cause célèbre'' for Western [[liberalism|liberals]], and her presence in the [[civil rights movement]] linked it with the anti-apartheid struggle.{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|pp=262–263}} In 1964 she was taught the song "[[Malaika]]" by a Kenyan student while backstage at a performance in [[San Francisco]]; the song later became a staple of her performances.<ref name="guardian"/>

{{quote box
|quote = Would you not resist if you were allowed no rights in your own country because the color of your skin is different to that of the rulers and if you were punished for even asking for equality?
 | source = —Miriam Makeba{{sfn|Redmond|2013|p=239}}
 | width  = 220px
 | align  = left
 | salign = right
}}

Throughout the 1960s, Makeba strengthened her involvement with a range of black-centred political movements, including the civil rights, anti-apartheid, [[Black Consciousness Movement|Black Consciousness]], and [[Black Power movement|Black Power]] movements.<ref name="guardian"/> She briefly met the Trinidadian-American activist [[Stokely Carmichael]]—the leader of the [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]] and a prominent figure in the [[Black Panther Party]]—after Belafonte invited him to one of Makeba's concerts; they met again in [[Conakry]] six years later.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=80}} They entered a relationship, initially kept secret from all but their closest friends and family.{{sfn|Fleming|2016|p=318}} Makeba participated in fundraising activities for various civil rights groups, including a benefit concert for the 1962 [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]] that civil rights activist [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] referred to as the "event of the year".{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=71}} Following a concert and rally in [[Atlanta]] in support of King, Makeba and others were denied entrance to a restaurant as a result of [[Jim Crow laws]], leading to a televised protest in front of the establishment.{{sfn|Redmond|2013|p=238}}{{sfn|Masemola|2011|p=5}} She also criticised King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference for its investment in South African companies, informing press that "Now my friend of long standing supports the country's persecution of my people and I must find a new idol".{{sfn|Fleming|2016|p=319}} Her identity as an African woman in the civil rights movement helped create "an emerging liberal consensus" that extreme racial discrimination, whether domestically or internationally, was harmful.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=70}} In 1964 she testified at the UN for a second time, quoting a song by [[Vanessa Redgrave]] in calling for quick action against the South African government.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|pp=73–74}}

Makeba and Belafonte received the [[Grammy Award]] for [[Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording|Best Folk Recording]] for ''[[An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba]]'' on 15 March 1966.<ref name="Awards">{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/miriam-makeba-mn0000496097/awards|title=Miriam Makeba Charts & Awards |website=Allmusic|access-date=18 November 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2iFlAAAAIBAJ&pg=991,4091327&dq=grammy&hl=en|title=Roger Miller Tops Grammy|date=16 March 1966|work=Edmonton Journal|access-date=21 February 2018}}</ref> The album dealt with the political plight of black South Africans under apartheid, including several songs critical of the South African government, such as "Ndodemnyama we Verwoerd" ("Watch our Verwoerd", a reference to [[Hendrik Verwoerd]], one of the architects of apartheid).{{sfn|Poet|2009|p=1}}{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|pp=265–266}}{{sfn|Schumann|2008|p=23}} It sold widely and raised Makeba's profile in the US; Belafonte and Makeba's concert tour following its release was often sold out, and the album has been described as the best they made together.{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|pp=252–253}} Makeba's use of lyrics in [[Swahili language|Swahili]], Xhosa, and Sotho led to her being seen as a representation of an "authentic" Africa by American audiences.{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|pp=257–260}} In 1967, more than ten years after she first recorded the song, the single "Pata Pata" was released in the US on an album of the same title, and became a worldwide hit.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=77}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Pata Pata|url=http://www.allmusic.com/song/pata-pata-mt0005718132|website=Allmusic|access-date=27 February 2017}}</ref> During its recording, she and Belafonte had a disagreement, after which they stopped recording together.<ref name="RP" />

===Guinea===
[[File:Miriam Makeba (1969).jpg|thumb|right|alt=Makeba seated at a counter|Makeba in 1969]]

Makeba married Carmichael in March 1968; this caused her popularity in the US to decline markedly.{{sfn|Fleming|2016|p=312}} [[Conservatism in the United States|Conservatives]] came to regard her as a militant and an extremist, an image that alienated much of her fanbase.{{sfn|Fleming|2016|p=313}} Her performances were cancelled and her coverage in the press declined despite her efforts to portray her marriage as apolitical.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=81}} White American audiences stopped supporting her, and the US government took an interest in her activities. The [[Central Intelligence Agency]] began following her, and placed hidden microphones in her apartment;{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|pp=265–266}} the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] also placed her under surveillance.<ref name=Jaggi/>{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=53}} While she and her husband were travelling in the [[The Bahamas|Bahamas]], she was banned from returning to the US, and was refused a visa. As a result, the couple moved to Guinea, where Carmichael changed his name to Kwame Touré.<ref name="RP" /> Makeba did not return to the US until 1987.{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=267}}

Guinea remained Makeba's home for the next 15 years. She and her husband became close to President [[Ahmed Sékou Touré]] and his wife, [[Andrée Touré|Andrée]],<ref name=economist>{{cite news|url= http://www.economist.com/node/12591050?story_id=12591050&fsrc=rss|title=Miriam Makeba obituary|date=13 November 2008|newspaper=The Economist}}</ref><ref name="Nkrumah 2001"/> as well as with [[Kwame Nkrumah]], the deposed president of Ghana.{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=The Guinea Years}} Touré wanted to create a new style of African music, creating his own record label [[Syliphone]] for this purpose, and all musicians received a [[minimum wage]] if they practised for several hours every day.<ref name="Denselow" /><ref>{{cite journal|first=Yair|last=Hashachar|year=2017|title=Playing the backbeat in Conakry: Miriam Makeba and the cultural politics of Sékou Touré's Guinea, 1968–1986|journal=Social Dynamics|volume=43|issue=2|pages=259–273|doi=10.1080/02533952.2017.1364467|doi-access=free}}</ref> Makeba recorded for this label,{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=The Guinea Years}} and later stated that "I've never seen a country that did what Sékou Touré did for artists."<ref name="Denselow" /> After her rejection from the US she began to write music more directly critical of the US government's racial policies, recording and singing songs such as "[[Lumumba (song)|Lumumba]]" in 1970 (referring to [[Patrice Lumumba]], the assassinated Prime Minister of [[Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)|the Congo]]), and "[[Malcolm X (song)|Malcolm X]]" in 1974.{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|pp=266–268}}

{{Quote box
 | quote  = I'd already lived in exile for 10 years, and the world is free, even if some of the countries in it aren't, so I packed my bags and left.
 | source = —Miriam Makeba{{sfn|Poet|2009|p=2}}
 | width  = 218px
 | align  = left
 | salign = right
}}

Makeba performed more frequently in African countries, and as countries became independent of European colonial powers, was invited to sing at independence ceremonies, including in Kenya, Angola, Zambia, [[Tanganyika (1961–1964)|Tanganyika]] (now part of Tanzania), and Mozambique.{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|pp=266–268}}{{sfn|Redmond|2013|p=241}} In September 1974 she performed alongside a multitude of well-known African and American musicians at the [[Zaire 74]] festival in [[Kinshasa]], [[Zaire]] (formerly the Congo).{{sfn|Stewart|2003|p=207}} She also became a diplomat for Ghana,{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|pp=266–268}} and was appointed Guinea's official delegate to the UN in 1975;<ref name="RP" /> that year, she addressed the [[United Nations General Assembly]],<ref name="Nkrumah 2001"/> where she advocated for South Africa's liberation from apartheid. Also in 1975, she visited Mozambique as part of a Guinean delegation to mark Mozambique's independence from Portugal. To celebrate the moment, Makeba commissioned the song "Aluta Continua" (The Struggle Continues) from her daughter Bongi and Bill Salter.{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Aluta Continua}}

She continued to perform in Europe and Asia, along with her African concerts, but not in the US, where a ''de facto'' boycott was in effect.{{sfn|Poet|2009|p=2}} Her performances in Africa were immensely popular: she was described as the highlight of [[FESTAC 77]], a [[Pan-Africanism|Pan-African]] arts festival in Nigeria in 1977, and during a Liberian performance of "Pata Pata", the stadium proved so loud that she was unable to complete the song.{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|pp=266–268}} "Pata Pata", like her other songs, had been banned in South Africa.{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|pp=266–268}} Another song she sang frequently in this period was "[[Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika]]", though she never recorded it.{{sfn|Redmond|2013|pp=241–244}} Makeba later stated that it was during this period that she accepted the label "Mama Africa":{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|pp=266–268}} scholar Omotayo Jolaosho writes that the epithet, by which she came to be widely known, was first given her by her daughter Bongi in an interview.{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Mama Africa: The Grieving Years}}

In 1976, the South African government replaced English and native South African languages with [[Afrikaans]] as the medium of instruction for many subjects in [[bantu Education Act, 1953|black schools]], setting off the [[Soweto uprising]].<ref name="Ndlovu 327">{{cite book |url= http://www.sadet.co.za/docs/RTD/vol2/Volume%202%20-%20chapter%207.pdf |title= The Road to Democracy in South Africa |volume=2 |chapter= The Soweto Uprising |author= Sifiso Mxolisi Ndlovu |publisher= South African Democracy Education Trust |access-date= 30 October 2011 |page= 327}}</ref> Between 15,000 and 20,000 students took part; caught unprepared, the police opened fire on the protesting children,{{sfn|Muller|2006|pp=74–75}}{{sfn|Eze|2010|p=46}} killing hundreds and injuring more than a thousand.{{sfn|Eze|2010|p=46}} Hugh Masekela wrote "[[Soweto Blues]]" in response to the massacre, and the song was performed by Makeba, becoming a staple of her live performances for many years.<ref name="SFC 1987">{{cite news|last1=O'Connor|first1=John J.|title=Paul Simon's Emotional Grace|url=http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/0EB4EF465BD57A19?p=AWNB|access-date=17 March 2015|agency=New York Times|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=19 May 1987}}</ref> A review in the magazine ''[[Musician (magazine)|Musician]]'' said that the song had "searingly righteous lyrics" about the uprising that "cut to the bone".<ref name="Cheyney 1990"/> She had separated from Carmichael in 1973;<ref name="guardian" /> in 1978 they divorced and in 1981 she married Bageot Bah, an airline executive.{{sfn|Allen|2011|loc=Makeba, Miriam Zenzi}}<ref name="guardian"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://guineematin.com/2018/11/09/myriam-makeba-une-princesse-xhosa-belle-fille-de-telimele/|title=Myriam Makéba : une princesse Xhosa, belle-fille de Télimélé|work=Guinée Matin|first=Amadou Diouldé|last=Diallo|date=9 November 2018|language=fr|access-date=31 March 2019}}</ref> Makeba's daughter Bongi, and her three children, lived with Makeba for a period. Bongi, who was a singer in her own right, often accompanied her mother on stage, and contributed to her reputation. However, the relationship between the two grew strained after the death of Bongi's youngest child.{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Mama Africa: The Grieving Years}}

===Belgium===
{{quote box
|quote = I look at an ant and see myself: a native South African, endowed by nature with a strength much greater than my size so I might cope with the weight of a racism that crushes my spirit. I look at a bird and I see myself: a native South African, soaring above the injustices of apartheid on wings of pride, the pride of a beautiful people.
 | source = —Miriam Makeba{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=270}}
 | width  = 220px
 | align  = right
 | salign = right
}}
Makeba's daughter Bongi died in childbirth in 1985. Makeba was left responsible for her two surviving grandchildren, and decided to move out of Guinea,<ref name="RP" /> which had become less hospitable to her after Touré's death the previous year and the [[1984 Guinean coup d'état|military coup]] that followed.{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Mama Africa: The Grieving Years}} She settled in the [[Woluwe-Saint-Lambert]] district of the Belgian capital [[Brussels]].<ref name="RP" /><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bruzz.be/nl/nieuws/miriam-makeba-liet-ook-brussel-sporen-na|title=Miriam Makeba liet ook in Brussel sporen na|work=Bruzz|language=nl|date=19 November 2008|first=Benjamin|last=Tollet|access-date=12 August 2017}}</ref> In the following year, Masekela introduced Makeba to [[Paul Simon]], and a few months later she embarked on Simon's very successful [[Graceland (album)|Graceland Tour]].{{sfn|Poet|2009|p=2}}{{sfn|Bordowitz|2006|p=314}}{{sfn|Tobler|1992|p=427}} The tour concluded with two concerts held in [[Harare]], Zimbabwe,{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=251}} which were filmed in 1987 for release as ''Graceland: The African Concert''.<ref name="RP" />{{sfn|Poet|2009|p=2}} Makeba fractured her leg while on tour, but continued to perform from a wheelchair.{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Welela: Crossing Over}} Her involvement with Simon caused controversy: ''Graceland'' had been recorded in South Africa, breaking the cultural boycott of the country, and thus Makeba's participation in the tour was regarded as contravening the boycott (which Makeba herself endorsed).<ref name="guardian" /> After touring the world with Simon, [[Warner Bros. Records]] signed Makeba and she released ''[[Sangoma (Miriam Makeba album)|Sangoma]]'' ("Healer"), an album of healing chants named in honour of her ''sangoma'' mother.<ref name="RP" />{{sfn|Poet|2009|p=2}} 

In preparation for the Graceland tour, she worked with journalist James Hall to write an autobiography titled ''Makeba: My Story''. The book contained descriptions of her experience with apartheid, and was also critical of the commodification and consumerism she experienced in the US.{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|pp=270–271}} The book was translated into five languages.{{sfn|Allen|2008|p=90}} She took part in the [[Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute]], a popular-music concert staged on 11 June 1988 at London's [[Wembley Stadium (1923)|Wembley Stadium]], and broadcast to an audience of 600 million across 67 countries.<ref>{{cite news|last1=McNary|first1=Dave|title=Biopic in Development on South African Singer Miriam Makeba|url=https://variety.com/2016/film/news/south-aftrica-singer-miriam-makeba-biopic-1201924210/|access-date=18 September 2017|work=Variety|date=22 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Hawksley|first1=Rupert|title=Nelson Mandela birthday tribute concerts: how they helped change the world|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/nelson-mandela/10155341/Nelson-Mandela-birthday-tribute-concerts-how-they-helped-change-the-world.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/nelson-mandela/10155341/Nelson-Mandela-birthday-tribute-concerts-how-they-helped-change-the-world.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=18 September 2017|work=The Telegraph|date=6 December 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name=Lynskey/> Political aspects of the concert were heavily censored in the US by the [[Fox News|Fox television network]].{{sfn|Reed|2005|p=174}} The use of music to raise awareness of apartheid paid off: a survey after the concert found that among people aged between 16 and 24, three-quarters knew of Mandela, and supported his release from prison.<ref name=Lynskey>{{cite web|first=Dorian |last=Lynskey |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/dec/06/nelson-mandela-protest-song-special-aka |title=Nelson Mandela: the triumph of the protest song|website=The Guardian |date=6 December 2013|access-date=26 October 2016}}</ref>

==Return to South Africa, final years and death==

Following growing pressure from the anti-apartheid movement both [[internal resistance to apartheid|domestically]] and internationally, in 1990 State President [[F. W. de Klerk|Frederik Willem de Klerk]] reversed the ban on the [[African National Congress]] and other anti-apartheid organisations, and announced that Mandela would shortly be released from prison.{{sfn|Meredith|2010|pp=355–357}}<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/11/newsid_2539000/2539947.stm|title=1990: Freedom for Nelson Mandela|date=11 February 1990|publisher=BBC|access-date=10 November 2010}}</ref> Mandela was released in February 1990.<ref>{{cite news|last=Ormond|first=Roger|title=Mandela free after 27 years|date=12 February 1990|url=http://century.guardian.co.uk/1990-1999/Story/0,,112389,00.html|website=The Guardian|location=London|access-date = 10 November 2008}}</ref> He persuaded Makeba to try to return to South Africa; she obtained a six-day [[Travel visa|visa]] after months of effort,{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Welela: Crossing Over}} and entered South Africa using her French passport on 10 June 1990.<ref name="Nkrumah 2001"/><ref>{{cite news|title=Singer Back in South Africa|date=11 June 1990|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/11/world/singer-back-in-south-africa.html|agency=[[Associated Press]]|work=The New York Times|access-date = 22 November 2010}}</ref> Her arrival was a considerable event, featuring meetings, interviews, and singing by [[Brenda Fassie]].{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Welela: Crossing Over}}

[[File:Miriam Makeba10.JPG|thumb|left|alt=Makeba and Dizzy Gillespie on a stage|Makeba and [[Dizzy Gillespie]] in [[Calvados (department)|Calvados]], France, 1991]]
Makeba, Gillespie, Simone, and Masekela recorded and released her studio album, ''[[Eyes on Tomorrow]]'', in 1991. It combined jazz, [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]], [[Pop music|pop]], and traditional African music, and was a hit across Africa. Makeba and Gillespie then toured the world together to promote it.{{sfn|Poet|2009|p=2}} In November she made a guest appearance on a US sitcom, ''[[The Cosby Show]]''.<ref name="RP" />{{sfn|Stanton|Ramsamy|Seybolt|2012|p=318}} In April 1992, she performed two concerts in Johannesburg, her first in South Africa since her exile in 1960.{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Welela: Crossing Over}} In the same year she starred in the film ''[[Sarafina! (film)|Sarafina!]]'' which centred on students involved in the 1976 Soweto uprising.<ref name=Jaggi/> Makeba portrayed the title character's mother, Angelina, a role which ''[[The New York Times]]'' described as having been performed with "immense dignity".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Maslin|first1=Janet|title=Review/Film; Torture And Hope In a Clash|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E0CE7DC1630F93BA2575AC0A964958260?|access-date=28 February 2017|work=The New York Times|date=18 September 1992}}</ref>

On 16 October 1999, Makeba was named a [[FAO Goodwill Ambassador|Goodwill Ambassador]] of the [[Food and Agriculture Organization]] of the United Nations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fao.org/getinvolved/ambassadors/ambassadors/ambassadors-miriammakeba/en/|title=Miriam Makeba|publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization|access-date=16 September 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091018052918/http://www.fao.org/getinvolved/ambassadors/ambassadors/ambassadors-miriammakeba/en/|archive-date=18 October 2009}}</ref> In January 2000, her album, ''[[Homeland (Miriam Makeba album)|Homeland]]'', produced by the New York City based [[record label]] [[Putumayo World Music]], was nominated for a Grammy Award in the [[Grammy Award for Best World Music Album|Best World Music Album]] category.<ref name=Jaggi/><ref>{{cite web|last1=Ngaira|first1=Amos|title=End of era as queen Makeba, 76, takes her last bow|url=http://www.nation.co.ke/news/1056-489418-kn5g0qz/index.html|website=Daily Nation|date=10 November 2008|access-date=28 February 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalhit.com/grammy/43/43-regworldpolk.shtml|title=43rd Annual Grammy Awards Nominations Coverage|year= 2001|work=Entertainment|publisher = Digital Hit}}</ref> She worked closely with [[Graça Machel|Graça Machel-Mandela]], the South African first lady, advocating for children suffering from [[AIDS|HIV/AIDS]], [[Military use of children|child soldiers]], and the [[Disability|physically handicapped]].<ref name="Nkrumah 2001"/>{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=272}} She established the Makeba Centre for Girls, a home for orphans, described in an obituary as her most personal project.{{sfn|Allen|2008|p=90}}{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=272}} She also took part in the 2002 documentary ''[[Amandla!: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony]]'', which examined the struggles of black South Africans against apartheid through the music of the period.<ref name="Vershbow 2012">{{cite journal|last=Vershbow|first=Michela E.|title=The Sounds of Resistance: The Role of Music in South Africa's Anti-Apartheid Movement|journal=Inquiries Journal|volume=2|issue=6|year=2010|url=http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/265/the-sounds-of-resistance-the-role-of-music-in-south-africas-anti-apartheid-movement|access-date=26 October 2016}}</ref> Makeba's second autobiography, ''Makeba: The Miriam Makeba Story'', was published in 2004.{{sfn|Allen|2011|loc=Makeba, Miriam Zenzi}}{{sfn|Allen|2008|p=90}} In 2005 she announced that she would retire and began a farewell tour, but despite having [[osteoarthritis]],<ref name="Reuters">{{cite news|last=Chaudhry|first=Serena|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE4A912L20081110|title='Mama Africa' Miriam Makeba dies after concert|date=10 November 2008|work=Reuters|access-date=12 November 2010}}</ref> continued to perform until her death.<ref name="RP" /><ref name="Denselow"/> During this period, her grandchildren Nelson Lumumba Lee and Zenzi Lee, and her great-grandchild Lindelani, occasionally joined her performances.<ref name="RP" />

On 9 November 2008, Makeba fell ill during a concert in [[Castel Volturno]], [[Province of Caserta|Caserta]], Italy. The concert had been organised to support the writer [[Roberto Saviano]] in his stand against the [[Camorra]], a criminal organisation active in the region.<ref name="RP">{{cite journal|last1=Ravell-Pinto|first1=Thelma|last2=Ravell|first2=Rayner|title=Obituary: African Icon: Miriam 'Mama Africa' Makeba, dies at age 76|journal=Journal of the African Literature Association|date=2008|volume=2|issue=2|pages=274–281|doi=10.1080/21674736.2008.11690092|s2cid=164201040}}</ref> She suffered a heart attack after singing her hit song "Pata Pata", and was taken to the Pineta Grande clinic, where doctors were unable to revive her.{{efn|Francesco Longanella, medical director of the Pineta Grande Clinic, told Reuters that "[Miriam Makeba] arrived [at the Pineta Grande Clinic] at 11:15 pm [of 9 November 2008], [but that she was] already dead [...] [we] tried to revive her for three quarters of an hour." (Translated from Italian)<ref name="Reuters Italia" />}}<ref name="Reuters Italia">{{cite news|url=http://it.reuters.com/article/topNews/idITMIE4A900H20081110|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090823025206/http://it.reuters.com/article/topNews/idITMIE4A900H20081110|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 August 2009|title=Miriam Makeba muore dopo concerto a Castel Volturno|publisher=Reuters Italia|date=10 November 2008|language=it|trans-title=Miriam Makeba dies after concert in Castel Volturno|access-date=14 November 2010}}</ref><ref name="bbc">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7719056.stm|title=Singer Miriam Makeba dies aged 76|work=BBC News|date=10 November 2008|access-date=10 November 2008}}</ref>

==Music and image==
===Musical style===
The groups with which Makeba began her career performed ''[[mbube (genre)|mbube]]'', a style of vocal harmony which drew on American jazz, [[ragtime]], and [[Anglican church]] hymns, as well as indigenous styles of music.<ref name="guardian"/> Johannesburg musician Dolly Rathebe was an early influence on Makeba's music,<ref name="guardian"/><ref name="Denselow"/> as were female jazz singers from the US.{{sfn|Castledine|2011|p=228}} Historian David Coplan writes that the "African jazz" made popular by Makeba and others was "inherently hybridized" rather than derivative of any particular genre, blending as it did [[marabi]] and jazz, and was "Americanized African music, not Africanized American music".{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=261}} The music that she performed was described by British writer [[Robin Denselow]] as a "unique blend of rousing township styles and jazz-influenced balladry".<ref name="Denselow" />

Makeba released more than 30 albums during her career. The dominant styles of these shifted over time, moving from African jazz to recordings influenced by Belafonte's "crooning" to music drawing from traditional South African musical forms.{{sfn|Allen|2008|p=89}} She has been associated with the genres of world music<ref name=Jaggi/> and [[African popular music|Afropop]]. She also incorporated Latin American musical styles into her performances.<ref name="Cheyney 1990"/> Historian [[Ruth Feldstein]] described her music as "[crossing] the borders between what many people associated with avant-garde and 'quality' culture and the commercial mainstream"; the latter aspect often drew criticism.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|pp=38, 69}} She was able to appeal to audiences from many political, racial, and national backgrounds.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=77}}

She was known for having a dynamic vocal range, and was described as having an emotional awareness during her performances.<ref name="guardian"/> She occasionally danced during her shows,<ref name=economist/> and was described as having a sensuous presence on stage.{{sfn|Castledine|2011|p=233}} She was able to vary her voice considerably: an obituary remarked that she "could soar like an opera singer, but she could also whisper, roar, hiss, growl and shout. She could sing while making the epiglottal clicks of the Xhosa language."<ref name=economist/> She sang in English and several African languages, but never in Afrikaans, the language of the apartheid government in South Africa. She once stated "When Afrikaaners sing in my language, then I will sing theirs."{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=69}} English was seen as the language of political resistance by black South Africans due to the educational barriers they faced under apartheid; the Manhattan Brothers, with whom Makeba had sung in Sophiatown, had been prohibited from recording in English.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=69}} Her songs in African languages have been described as reaffirming black pride.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=70}}

===Politics and perception===
Makeba said that she did not perform political music, but music about her personal life in South Africa, which included describing the pain she felt living under apartheid.<ref name=economist/><ref name="Denselow" /> She once stated "people say I sing politics, but what I sing is not politics, it is the truth", an example of the mixing of personal and political issues for musicians living during apartheid.{{sfn|Schumann|2008|pp=21–22}} When she first entered the US, she avoided discussing apartheid explicitly, partly out of concern for her family still in South Africa.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=68}} Nonetheless, she is known for using her voice to convey the political message of opposition to apartheid,{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=253}} performing widely and frequently for civil rights and anti-apartheid organisations. Even songs that did not carry an explicitly political message were seen as subversive, due to their being banned in South Africa.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=70}} Makeba saw her music as a tool of activism, saying "In our struggle, songs are not simply entertainment for us. They are the way we communicate."{{sfn|Roux-Kemp|2014|p=263}} She expressed her political views, and criticism of apartheid in particular, more frequently in later years; her exile, and the death of her daughter, have both been identified as making her more vocal.{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Discussion of the Literature}}

Makeba's use of the [[click consonant|click]]s common in languages such as Xhosa and Zulu (as in "Qongqothwane", "The Click Song") was frequently remarked upon by Western audiences. It contributed to her popularity and her exotic image, which scholars have described as a kind of [[othering]], exacerbated by the fact that Western audiences often could not understand her lyrics.{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=258}}{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|pp=53–54}} Critics in the US described her as the "African tribeswoman" and as an "import from South Africa", often depicting her in condescending terms as a product of a more primitive society.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|pp=51–54, 65–67}}{{sfn|Castledine|2011|p=234}} In seeing her as an embodiment of Africa, Western audiences tended to ignore her cosmopolitan background.{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Discussion of the Literature}} Conversely, she is also described as shaping [[Pan-Africanism|Pan-African]] identity during the decline of colonialism.<ref name="Muyanga 2019">{{cite journal | last=Muyanga | first=Neo | title=Voicing fluid voices: reflections of the multivalence of voice in Miriam Makeba's art and life | journal=South African Theatre Journal | volume=32 | issue=1 | date=2 January 2019 | issn=1013-7548 | doi=10.1080/10137548.2019.1639542 | pages=63–76| s2cid=203327319 }}</ref> Commentators also frequently described her in terms of the prominent men she was associated with, despite her own prominence.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|pp=51–54, 65–67}}{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Discussion of the Literature}} During her early career in South Africa she had been seen as a [[sex symbol]], an image that received considerably less attention in the US.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|pp=51–54, 65–67}}

Makeba was described as a style icon, both in her home country and the US.{{sfn|Ford|2015|p=15}} She wore no makeup and refused to straighten her hair for shows, thus helping establish a style that came to be known internationally as the "[[Afro|Afro look]]".{{sfn|Schwarz-Bart|2003|p=214}}{{sfn|Castledine|2011|p=235}} According to music scholar Tanisha Ford, her hairstyle represented a "liberated African beauty aesthetic".{{sfn|Ford|2015|p=16}} She was seen as a beauty icon by South African schoolgirls, who were compelled to shorten their hair by the apartheid government.{{sfn|Ford|2015|p=17}} Makeba stuck to wearing African jewellery; she disapproved of the skin-lighteners commonly used by South African women at the time, and refused to appear in advertisements for them.{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=265}}{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|pp=75–76}} Her self-presentation has been characterised by scholars as a rejection of the predominantly white standards of beauty that women in the US were held to, which allowed Makeba to partially escape the sexualisation directed at women performers during this period.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=76}} Nonetheless, the terms used to describe her in the US media have been identified by scholars as frequently used to "sexualize, infantalize, and animalize" people of African heritage.{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=258}}

==Legacy==
===Musical influence===
[[File:World Music Collage.jpg|thumb|alt=Five-image collage depicting Youssou N'Dour, Salif Keita, Angélique Kidjo, Ali Farka Touré, and Baaba Maal, clockwise from the top left|Makeba has been credited with popularising [[world music]], along with artists such as [[Youssou N'Dour]], [[Salif Keita]], [[Angélique Kidjo]], [[Ali Farka Touré]], and [[Baaba Maal]] (''pictured clockwise from top left'').]]
Makeba was among the most visible Africans in the US; as a result, she was often emblematic of the continent of Africa for Americans.{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|pp=252–253}} Her music earned her the moniker "Mama Africa",<ref name=economist/> and she was variously described as the "Empress of African Song",<ref name="guardian"/><ref name="Reuters"/> the "Queen of South African music",{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=252}} and Africa's "first superstar".<ref name="Denselow" /> Music scholar J. U. Jacobs said that Makeba's music had "both been shaped by and given shape to black South African and American music".{{sfn|Jacobs|1989|p=5}} The jazz musician [[Abbey Lincoln]] is among those identified as being influenced by Makeba.{{sfn|Castledine|2011|p=240}} Makeba and Simone were among a group of artists who helped shape [[soul music]].{{sfn|Ford|2015|p=6}} Longtime collaborator Belafonte called her "the most revolutionary new talent to appear in any medium in the last decade".{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=52}} Speaking after her death, Mandela called her "South Africa's first lady of song", and said that "her music inspired a powerful sense of hope in all of us."<ref name="Reuters"/><ref>{{cite news|last1=Cowell|first1=Alan|title=Miriam Makeba, 76, Singer and Activist, Dies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/world/africa/11makeba.html|access-date=1 March 2017|work=The New York Times|date=10 November 2008}}</ref>

Outside her home country Makeba was credited with bringing African music to a Western audience. She is credited, along with artists such as [[Youssou N'Dour]], [[Salif Keita]], [[Ali Farka Touré]], [[Baaba Maal]] and [[Angélique Kidjo]], with popularising the genre of [[world music]].<ref name=Jaggi/>{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=53}}{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Summary}} She disliked this label, however, believing it marginalized music from the "third world".{{sfn|Jolaosho|2021|loc=Summary}} Her work with Belafonte in the 1960s has been described as creating the genre of world music before the concept entered the popular imagination, and also as highlighting the diversity and cultural pluralism within African music.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=77}} Within South Africa, Makeba has been described as influencing artists such as [[kwaito]] musician [[Thandiswa Mazwai]] and her band [[Bongo Maffin]],{{sfn|Coplan|2005|p=17}} whose track "De Makeba" was a modified version of Makeba's "Pata Pata", and one of several tribute recordings released after her return to South Africa.{{sfn|Allen|2008|p=90}} South African jazz musician [[Simphiwe Dana]] has been described as "the new Miriam Makeba".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Laing|first1=Aislinn|title=Whitney Houston: Nelson Mandela pays tribute to star|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/nelson-mandela/9079116/Whitney-Houston-dead-Nelson-Mandela-pays-tribute-to-star.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/nelson-mandela/9079116/Whitney-Houston-dead-Nelson-Mandela-pays-tribute-to-star.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=18 September 2017|work=The Telegraph|date=13 February 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> South African singer [[Lira (singer)|Lira]] has frequently been compared with Makeba, particularly for her performance of "Pata Pata" during the opening ceremony of the [[2010 FIFA World Cup|2010 Football World Cup]].{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=274}} A year later, Kidjo dedicated her concert in New York to Makeba, as a musician who had "paved the way for her success".{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=274}} In an obituary, scholar Lara Allen referred to Makeba as "arguably South Africa's most famous musical export".{{sfn|Allen|2008|p=89}} 

===Activism===
Makeba was among the most visible people campaigning against the apartheid system in South Africa,<ref name=economist/><ref name="bbc"/> and was responsible for popularising several [[Music in the movement against apartheid|anti-apartheid songs]], including "[[Meadowlands (song)|Meadowlands]]" by Strike Vilakezi and "[[Ndodemnyama we Verwoerd]]" (Watch out, Verwoerd) by [[Vuyisile Mini]].<ref name="Vershbow 2012" /> Due to her high profile, she became a spokesperson of sorts for Africans living under oppressive governments, and in particular for black South Africans living under apartheid.{{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=262}} When the South African government prevented her from entering her home country, she became a symbol of "apartheid's cruelty",{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=69}} and she used her position as a celebrity by testifying against apartheid before the UN in 1962 and 1964.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|pp=73–74}} Many of her songs were banned within South Africa, leading to Makeba's records being distributed underground, and even her apolitical songs being seen as subversive. She thus became a symbol of resistance to the white-minority government both within and outside South Africa.<ref name=Jaggi/> In an interview in 2000, Masekela said that "there [was] nobody in Africa who made the world more aware of what was happening in South Africa than Miriam Makeba."{{sfn|Castledine|2011|p=238}}

Makeba has also been associated with the movement against colonialism, with the civil rights and black power movements in the US, and with the [[Pan-Africanism|Pan-African movement]].<ref name=Jaggi/> She called for unity between black people of African descent across the world: "Africans who live everywhere should fight everywhere. The struggle is no different in South Africa, the streets of Chicago, Trinidad or Canada. The Black people are the victims of capitalism, racism and oppression, period".{{sfn|Fleming|2016|p=332}} After marrying Carmichael she often appeared with him during his speeches; Carmichael later described her presence at these events as an asset, and Feldstein wrote that Makeba enhanced Carmichael's message that "[[black is beautiful]]".{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=81}} Along with performers such as Simone, [[Lena Horne]], and Abbey Lincoln, she used her position as a prominent musician to advocate for civil rights.{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|pp=6–8}} Their activism has been described as simultaneously calling attention to racial and gender disparities, and highlighting "that the liberation they desired could not separate race from sex".{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|pp=6–8}} Makeba's critique of [[second-wave feminism]] as being the product of luxury led to observers being unwilling to call her a feminist.{{sfn|Castledine|2011|p=239}} Scholar Ruth Feldstein stated that Makeba and others influenced both [[black feminism]] and second-wave feminism through their advocacy,{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|pp=6–8}} and the historian Jacqueline Castledine referred to her as one of the "most steadfast voices for social justice".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Castledine|first1=Jacqueline|title=I Got Thunder: Black Women Songwriters on their Craft (review)|journal=Oral History Review|date=Spring 2010|volume=37|issue=1|pages=89–91|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/404287|via=[[Project MUSE]]|url-access=subscription|doi=10.1093/ohr/ohq015|s2cid=162236093}}</ref>

===Awards and recognition===
<!-- music awards -->
Makeba's 1965 collaboration with Harry Belafonte won a Grammy Award, making her the first African recording artist to win this award.<ref name=Jaggi />{{sfn|Feldstein|2013|p=53}} She was named the Best Female Artist of Africa and honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the 1996 [[Kora Awards]].{{sfn|Mojapelo|2008|p=265}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.koraawards.com/en/uncategorized/winners-1996/|title=WINNERS 1996|publisher=Kora Awards|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915235935/http://www.koraawards.com/en/uncategorized/winners-1996/|archive-date=15 September 2017}}</ref> At the [[South African Music Awards]] (SAMAs), she received five awards: Best Female Artist and Best adult  contemporary african album for her 2000 album ''Homeland'' at the eighth ceremony in 2001, along with awards for Best adult contemporary album and Best Jazz Vocal album for her 2003 album ''Reflections'', as well as Best DVD for her live album ''Live at Bern's Salonger, Stockholm, Sweden, 1966'', at the tenth ceremony in 2004.{{sfn|Mojapelo|2008|p=265}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://samusicawards.co.za/awards/awards-legacy/sama7-2001/|title=SAMA7 2001|publisher=South African Music Awards|access-date=3 August 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://samusicawards.co.za/awards/awards-legacy/sama10-2004/|title=SAMA10 2004|publisher=South African Music Awards|access-date=3 August 2024}}</ref> Makeba shared the 2001 [[Polar Music Prize]] with [[Sofia Gubaidulina]].<ref name="Billboard">{{cite magazine|title=Makeba, Gubaidulina Win Polar Music Prize|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/76578/makeba-gubaidulina-win-polar-music-prize|magazine=Billboard|date=5 March 2002|access-date=26 February 2017}}</ref> They received their prize from [[Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden|Carl XVI Gustaf]], the [[King of Sweden]], during a nationally televised ceremony at [[Berwaldhallen]], Stockholm, on 27 May 2002.<ref name="polarmusic">{{cite web|url=http://www.polarmusicprize.org/miriam-makeba/|title=Miriam Makeba|publisher=Polar Music Prize|date=27 May 2002|access-date=14 November 2010|archive-date=21 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721174437/http://www.polarmusicprize.org/miriam-makeba/|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' placed her 53rd in its list of "The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time" in 2023.<ref name="johnston2023">{{cite magazine| title=The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time: Miriam Makeba| magazine=Rolling Stone | date=1 January 2023 | url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-singers-all-time-1234642307/miriam-makeba-1234643116/|first=Maura|last=Johnston|author-link=Maura Johnston|access-date=14 April 2023}}</ref>

<!-- other awards -->
Makeba won the [[Dag Hammarskjöld]] Peace Prize in 1986,<ref name=Jaggi/> and in 2001 was awarded the [[Otto Hahn Peace Medal|Otto Hahn Peace Medal in Gold]] by the [[United Nations Association |United Nations Association of Germany]] (DGVN) in Berlin, "for outstanding services to peace and international understanding".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/DN2/Five-years-later-the-world-tweets-in-honour-of-Mama-Africa/957860-1713976-5yckum/index.html|title=Five years later, the world tweets in honour of Mama Africa|date=8 March 2013|access-date=26 February 2017|work=Daily Nation}}</ref> She also received several honorary doctorates.{{sfn|Allen|2008|p=90}} In 2003, she was awarded South Africa's [[Order for Meritorious Service]],<ref>{{cite news |title=SA declares official mourning for Makeba |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2008-11-13-sa-declares-official-mourning-for-makeba/ |access-date=3 November 2023 |date=13 November 2008}}</ref> and in the next year, she was voted 38th in a poll ranking 100 [[Great South Africans]].<ref name="Denselow"/>

<!-- commemorations -->The [[University of Fort Hare]]'s Miriam Makeba Centre of Performing Arts, which was established around 2003, was named in her honour.{{sfn|Mojapelo|2008|p=266}} From 25 to 27 September 2009, a tribute television show to Makeba, entitled ''Hommage à Miriam Makeba'' and curated by [[Benin]]oise singer-songwriter and activist [[Angélique Kidjo]], was held at the [[Cirque d'hiver]] in Paris.<ref name="festival">{{cite web|url=http://www.festival-idf.fr/2009/concerts.php|title=Tous les concerts|language=fr|trans-title=All Concerts|publisher=Festival d'Ile de France|access-date=14 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120203223725/https://www.festival-idf.fr/2009/concerts.php|archive-date=3 February 2012}}</ref> The show was presented as ''Mama Africa: Celebrating Miriam Makeba'' at the [[Barbican Centre|Barbican]] in London on 21 November 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=9760|title=Mama Africa: Celebrating Miriam Makeba|publisher=Barbican|access-date=11 November 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100707115254/http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=9760|archive-date=7 July 2010}}</ref> A [[documentary film]] titled ''Mama Africa'', about Makeba's life, co-written and directed by Finnish [[film director|director]] [[Mika Kaurismäki]], was released in 2011.<ref name="baltimoresun">{{cite web|url= http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/movies/bs-wk-movies-0818-story.html|title= Flick picks: The best of Baltimore's film scene this week|last= Kaltenbach|first= Chris|date= 18 August 2017|work= The Baltimore Sun|access-date= 18 September 2017|archive-date= 18 August 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170818180954/http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/movies/bs-wk-movies-0818-story.html|url-status= dead}}</ref> On 4 March 2013, and again on [[International Women's Day]] in 2017, Google honoured her with a [[Google Doodle]] on their homepage.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/mar/04/miriam-makeba-google-doodle|title=Miriam Makeba's birthday commemorated in Google doodle|website=The Guardian|date=4 March 2013|access-date=4 March 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://doodles.google/doodle/international-womens-day-2017/|title=International Women's Day 2017|date=8 March 2017|access-date=8 March 2017}}</ref> In 2014 she was honoured (along with [[Nelson Mandela]], [[Albertina Sisulu]] and [[Steve Biko]]) in the Belgian city of [[Ghent]], which named a square after her, the "Miriam Makebaplein".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.hln.be/nieuws/binnenland/gent-eert-anti-apartheidsleiders-met-straatnamen-bij-de-krook~a0fb6b65/|title=Gent eert anti-apartheidsleiders met straatnamen bij de Krook|newspaper=Het Laatste Nieuws|date=24 October 2014|access-date=25 September 2018}}</ref> Makeba was named 1967's "woman of the year" by ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine in 2020, as one of a list of 100 "women of the year" for the years 1920–2019.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Baker |first1=Aryn |title=1967: Zenzile Miriam Makeba |magazine=Time |date=5 March 2020 |url=https://time.com/5793625/zenzile-miriam-makeba-100-women-of-the-year/}}</ref> 

In 2015 the French singer [[Jain (singer)|Jain]] released [[Makeba (song)|"Makeba"]], a tribute.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thefader.com/2015/11/04/jain-makeba-interview|title=Jain Is A Third Culture Kid Ready To Make Her Mark|first= Ben|last=Roazen|work=[[The Fader]]|date=4 November 2015|access-date=26 September 2018}}</ref> ''Mama Africa'', a musical about Makeba, was produced in South Africa by Niyi Coker. Originally titled ''Zenzi!'', the musical premiered to a sold-out crowd in Cape Town on 26 May 2016. It was performed in the US in [[St. Louis]], Missouri and at the [[Skirball Center for the Performing Arts]] in New York City between October and December 2016. The musical returned to South Africa in February 2017 for what would have been Makeba's 85th birthday.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.uwc.ac.za/News/Pages/Miriam-Makeba-Mama-Africa.aspx|title=Miriam Makeba Mama Africa|publisher=University of the Western Cape|access-date=14 July 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.uwc.ac.za/News/Pages/Mama-Africa%E2%80%93The-Musical-The-Life-and-Times-of-an-International-Legend.aspx|title=Mama Africa–The Musical The Life and Times of an International Legend|publisher=University of the Western Cape|access-date=14 July 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mamaafricathemusical.com/|title=Mama Africa The Musical|work=mamaafricathemusical.com|access-date=18 September 2017|archive-date=21 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160921014909/http://www.mamaafricathemusical.com/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://nyuiaaa.org/event-items/miriam-makeba-mama-africa-the-musical/|title=Miriam Makeba – Mama Africa the Musical|publisher=New York University Institute of African American Affairs|date=3 October 2016|access-date=5 May 2017|archive-date=13 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813013824/http://nyuiaaa.org/event-items/miriam-makeba-mama-africa-the-musical|url-status=dead}}</ref> American-born African jazz singer [[Somi (African singer)|Somi]] wrote a play about Makeba, ''Dreaming Zenzile'', which premiered in 2021, and released a tribute album dedicated to her, ''Zenzile: The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba'' (2022).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/somi-zenzile-the-reimagination-of-miriam-makeba-salon-africana/|title=Somi: Zenzile: The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba (Salon Africana)|work=Jazz Times|first=Veronica|last=Johnson|date=3 March 2022|access-date=11 September 2022}}</ref> 
In June 2023, "Makeba" received a resurgence in popularity due to the virality it achieved on [[TikTok]].<ref name="Viral">{{cite news |last1=Mukaz |first1=Malaïka |title=Jain a un nouvel album alors qu'un de ses anciens tubes cartonne de nouveau |url=https://www.rtbf.be/article/jain-a-un-nouvel-album-alors-qu-un-de-ses-anciens-tubes-cartonne-de-nouveau-11210737 |access-date=9 June 2023 |work=[[RTBF]] |date=June 9, 2023 |language=fr}}</ref>

==Notable songs and albums==
{{Main article|Miriam Makeba discography}}
This is a list of albums and songs, including [[Cover version|covers]], by Miriam Makeba that have received significant mention in commentary about her or about the musical and political movements she participated in.
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
;Albums
* ''[[Miriam Makeba (album)|Miriam Makeba]]'' (1960){{sfn|Poet|2009|p=1}} 
* ''[[The Many Voices of Miriam Makeba]]'' (1962){{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|p=264}}
* ''[[An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba]]'' (1965)<ref name="Awards"/>
* ''[[Comme une symphonie d'amour]]'' (1979)
* ''The Queen of African Music'' (1987)
* ''[[Sangoma (Miriam Makeba album)|Sangoma]]'' (1988)<ref name=Lusk/>
* ''[[Welela]]'' (1989)<ref name="Cheyney 1990">{{cite journal|last1=Cheyney|first1=Tom|title=Miriam Makeba Welela|journal=Musician|date=1 March 1990|issue=137|page=84}}</ref>
* ''[[Eyes on Tomorrow]]'' (1991){{sfn|Poet|2009|p=2}}
* ''[[Homeland (Miriam Makeba album)|Homeland]]'' (2000)<ref name=Jaggi/>

;Songs
* "Lakutshn, Ilanga/Lovely Lies" (1956){{sfn|Feldstein|2013|pp=59, 62}}
* "[[Sophiatown is Gone]]"{{sfn|Schumann|2008|p=24}}
* "[[The Click Song]]" / "[[Mbube (song)|Mbube]]" (1963){{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|pp=262–263}}
* "[[Pata Pata]]" (1967){{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|pp=262–263}}
* "[[Lumumba (song)|Lumumba]]" (1970){{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|pp=265–266}}
* "[[Malcolm X (song)|Malcolm X]]" (1974){{sfn|Sizemore-Barber|2012|pp=265–266}}
* "[[Soweto Blues]]" (1977)
* "Thula Sizwe/[[I Shall Be Released]]" (1991)<ref>{{cite web|title=Miriam Makeba Thula Sizwe/I Shall Be Released|url=http://www.allmusic.com/song/thula-sizwe-i-shall-be-released-mt0011982815|website=AllMusic|access-date=29 May 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Gray|first1=Chris|title=R.I.P. Miriam Makeba|url=http://www.houstonpress.com/music/rip-miriam-makeba-6765368|access-date=29 May 2017|work=Houston Press|date=11 November 2008|archive-date=11 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011080216/http://www.houstonpress.com/music/rip-miriam-makeba-6765368|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* "[[Malaika]]"<ref name=economist/>
{{div col end}}

==See also==
* [[Culture of South Africa]]
* [[List of South African Grammy Award winners and nominees]]

==Notes and references==
===Footnotes===
{{notelist}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin|indent=yes}}
*{{Cite book |last=Mojapelo |first=Max |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/16792/pdf |access-date=2 August 2024 |title=Beyond Memory: Recording the History, Moments and Memories of South African Music |date=2008 |publisher=African Minds |isbn=978-1-920299-28-6 |language=en}}
* {{cite journal |first=Lara |last=Allen |year=2008 |title=Remembering Miriam Makeba |journal= Journal of Musical Arts in Africa|volume=5 |number=1 |pages=89–90 |doi=10.2989/JMAA.2008.5.1.6.789 |doi-access=free }}
* {{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Dictionary of African Biography|title=Makeba, Miriam Zenzi|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2011|isbn=978-0-19-985725-8|first=Lara|last=Allen|editor1-first=Emmanuel K.|editor1-last=Akyeampong|editor-link=Emmanuel K. Akyeampong|editor2-first=Henry Louis Jr.|editor2-last=Gates|editor-link2=Henry Louis Gates, Jr.}}
* {{cite book|first1=Jack S.|last1=Blocker|first2=David M.|last2=Fahey|first3=Ian R. |last3=Tyrrell|title=Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History: An International Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BuzNzm-x0l8C|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-833-4|year=2003}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|editor-last1=Kaufman|editor-first1=Alan|encyclopedia=The Outlaw Bible of American Essays|title=Miriam Makeba|first=Hank|last=Bordowitz|pages=[https://archive.org/details/outlawbibleofame00kauf/page/313 313–316, 333–334]|year=2006|publisher=Thunder's Mouth|isbn=1-56025-935-3|oclc=74175340|url=https://archive.org/details/outlawbibleofame00kauf/page/313}}
* {{cite book|title=Ready for Revolution: The Life and Struggles of Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture)|first1=Stokely|last1=Carmichael|first2=Michael|last2=Thelwell|author2-link=Michael Thelwell|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-0-684-85003-0|year=2003|url=https://archive.org/details/readyforrevoluti00carm}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|editor-last1=McGuire|editor-first1=Danielle L.|editor-last2=Dittmer|editor-first2=John|encyclopedia=Freedom Rights|date=2011|publisher=The University Press of Kentucky|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/10490|title=Gender, Jazz, and Justice in Cold War Freedom Movements|last=Castledine|first=Jacqueline|pages=223–244|via=Project Muse|url-access=subscription |isbn=9780813134499}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Coplan|first1=David|title=God Rock Africa: Thoughts on Politics in Popular Black Performance in South Africa|journal=African Studies|date=July 2005|volume=64|issue=1|pages=9–27|doi=10.1080/00020180500139015 |s2cid=145099483}}
* {{cite book|last1=Eze|first1=Michael Onyebuchi|title=Intellectual History in Contemporary South Africa|year=2010|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-0-230-10969-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D6YYDAAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book|last=Feldstein|first=Ruth|title=How It Feels to Be Free: Black Women Entertainers and the Civil Rights Movement|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-19-531403-8}}
* {{cite journal |first=Tyler |last=Fleming |year=2016 |title=A Marriage of Inconvenience: Miriam Makeba's Relationship with Stokely Carmichael and her Music Career in the United States |journal=Safundi: The Journal of South African and American Studies |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=312–338 |doi=10.1080/17533171.2016.1176720 |s2cid=147829245 }}
* {{cite book|last=Ford|first=Tanisha|title=Liberated Threads: Black Women, Style, and the Global Politics of Soul|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/42136|year=2015|isbn=978-1-4696-2515-7|via=Project Muse|url-access=subscription }}
* {{cite journal| last=Jacobs| first=J. U. |title=The Blues: An Afro-American Matrix for Black South African Writing |journal=English in Africa |year=1989 |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=3–17 |jstor=40238786 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History|title=Miriam Makeba|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=29 October 2021|isbn=978-0-19-027773-4|first=Omotayo|last=Jolaosho|editor1-first=Thomas T.|editor1-last=Spear|doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.774}}
* {{cite journal |first=Katy |last=Khan |year=2008 |title=South-South Cultural Cooperation: Transnational Identities in the Music of Dorothy Masuka and Miriam Makeba |journal=Muziki: Journal of Music Research in Africa |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=145–151 |doi=10.1080/18125980802633052 |s2cid=142987814 }}
* {{cite journal |first=Kgomotso Michael |last=Masemola |year=2011 |title=Between Tinseltown and Sophiatown: The Double Temporality of Popular Culture in the Autobiographical Cultural Memory of Bloke Modisane and Miriam Makeba |journal=Journal of Literary Studies |volume=27 |number=1 |pages=1–27 |doi=10.1080/02564718.2011.557226 |hdl=10500/18417 |s2cid=144452759 |hdl-access=free }}
* {{cite book |last=Meredith |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Meredith |title=Mandela: A Biography |url=https://archive.org/details/mandelabiography0000mere |url-access=registration |publisher=PublicAffairs |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-58648-832-1 }}
* {{cite journal |first=Carol A. |last=Muller |year=2006 |title=The New African Diaspora, the Built Environment and the Past in Jazz |journal=Ethnomusicology Forum |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=63–86 |doi=10.1080/17411910600634270 |s2cid=194059852 }}
* {{cite book|first=Don C. |last=Ohadike|title=Sacred Drums of Liberation: Religions and Music of Resistance in Africa and the Diaspora|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1qLXAAAAMAAJ|year=2007|publisher=Africa World Press|isbn=978-1-59221-517-1}}
* {{cite journal |last=Poet |first=J. |title=Miriam Makeba: Mama Africa Goes Home |date=11 February 2009 |journal=Crawdaddy!}}
* {{cite book|last=Redmond|first=Shana L.|title=Anthem: Social Movements and the Sound of Solidarity in the African Diaspora|publisher=New York University Press|year=2013|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/27161|via=Project MUSE|url-access=subscription |isbn=978-0-8147-8932-2}}
* {{cite book|last1=Reed|first1=Thomas Vernon|title=The Art Of Protest: Culture And Activism From The Civil Rights Movement To The Streets Of Seattle|year=2005 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0-8166-3770-6|url=https://archive.org/details/artofpr_ree_2005_00_8609 |url-access=registration}}
* {{cite journal |last=Roux-Kemp |first=Andra la |s2cid=59415090 |year=2014 |title=Struggle Music: South African Politics in Song |url=https://works.bepress.com/andra-leroux-kemp/20/download/ |journal=Law and Humanities |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=247–268 |doi=10.5235/17521483.8.2.247 |url-access=subscription }}
* {{cite journal|last=Schumann|first=Anne|title=The Beat that Beat Apartheid: The Role of Music in the Resistance against Apartheid in South Africa|journal=Wiener Zeitschrift für kritische Afrikastudien |volume=14|issue=8 |year=2008 |url=https://stichproben.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/user_upload/p_stichproben/Artikel/Nummer14/Nr14_Schumann.pdf |access-date=24 October 2016}}
* {{cite book |ref={{harvid|Schwarz-Bart|2003}} |last1=Schwarz-Bart |first1=Simone |last2=Schwarz-Bart |first2=André |last3=Réjous |first3=Rose-Myriam |title=Modern African Women|series=In Praise of Black Women: Volume 3 |year=2003 |publisher=University of Wisconsin|isbn=0-299-17270-8 |oclc=66731111}}
* {{cite journal|last=Sizemore-Barber|first=April|title=The Voice of (Which?) Africa: Miriam Makeba in America|journal=Safundi: The Journal of South African and American Studies|volume=13|issue=3–4|date=July–October 2012|pages=251–276|doi=10.1080/17533171.2012.715416|s2cid=144160855}}
* {{cite book|last1=Stanton|first1=Andrea L.|last2=Ramsamy|first2=Edward|last3=Seybolt|first3=Peter J.|title=Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa: An Encyclopedia|date=2012|publisher=SAGE|isbn=978-1-4129-8176-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GtCL2OYsH6wC}}
* {{cite book|last = Stewart|first=Gary|title=Rumba on the River: A History of the Popular Music of the Two Congos|publisher=Verso|edition=illustrated|date=2003|chapter=What goes up...|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gKEHO1z413EC|isbn=978-1-85984-368-0}}
* {{cite book|first=John|last=Tobler|year=1992|title=NME Rock 'N' Roll Years|edition=1st|publisher=Reed International Books|id=CN 5585}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{sister project links|collapsible=true|c=Category:Miriam Makeba|d=Q146256|voy=no|v=no|species=no|wikt=no|b=no|s=no|n=no|q=yes}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|South Africa|Music}}
{{portal|Civil rights movement|Music}}
* {{cite book|last1=Barlow|first1=Sean|last2=Eyre|first2=Banning|last3=Vartoogian|first3=Jack|title=Afropop!: An Illustrated Guide to Contemporary African Music|year=1995|publisher=Chartwell Books|location=[[Edison, New Jersey]]|isbn=0-7858-0443-9|oclc=34018600 }}
* {{cite book|last1=Lucia|first1=Christine|title=The World of South African Music: A Reader|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Press |location=Newcastle upon Tyne|year=2005|isbn=1-904303-36-6|oclc=62531717}}
* {{cite book |last1=Makeba |first1=Miriam|last2=Hall |first2=James |title=Makeba: My Story |url=https://archive.org/details/makeba00miri |url-access=registration |year=1988 |orig-year=1987 |publisher=New American Library |location=New York City, New York |isbn=0-453-00561-6 |oclc=16131137}}
* {{cite book |last1=Makeba |first1=Miriam |author-link1=Miriam Makeba |last2=Mwamuka |first2=Nomsa |title=Makeba: The Miriam Makeba Story |year=2004 |publisher=STE |location=Johannesburg |isbn=1-919855-39-4 |oclc=57637539}}
* {{cite journal|first=Jon|last=Pareles|author-link=Jon Pareles|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE1DA143CF93BA35750C0A96E948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all|title=Books of the Times; South African Singer's Life: Trials and Triumphs|journal=The New York Times|date=8 March 1988|access-date=8 November 2010}}
* {{cite book|author1=Simone Schwarz-Bart|author2=André Schwarz-Bart|title=In Praise of Black Women: Modern African Women|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HD7U2a1Sp-0C|year=2003|location=Madison, Wisconsin|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|isbn=978-0-299-17270-1}}

==External links==
* {{AllMusic|class=artist|id=mn0000496097}}
* {{discogs artist}}
* {{IMDb name|id=0538460}}
* {{IBDB name|88154}}
* [https://www.npr.org/artists/96810385/miriam-makeba Miriam Makeba] at [[National Public Radio]]
* {{cite journal|last=Jolaosho|first=Tayo|url=http://www.folkways.si.edu/magazine-spring-2014-anti-apartheid-freedom-songs-then-and-now/south-africa/music/article/smithsonian |title=Anti-Apartheid Freedom Songs Then and Now|journal=Folkways Magazine |publisher=Smithsonian |date=Spring 2014 |access-date=24 October 2016}}
* {{cite web |url=http://video.aol.com/video-detail/hommage-a-miriam-makeba-festival-dile-de-france-09/4102373435/?icid=VIDLRVMUS02 |title=Hommage a Miriam Makeba – Festival d'Ile de France|publisher=AOL Video |access-date=11 November 2010 }}

{{Miriam Makeba}}
{{Polar Music Prize}}
{{Civil Rights Movement}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Makeba, Miriam}}
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:2008 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century South African women singers]]
[[Category:21st-century South African women singers]]
[[Category:South African anti-apartheid activists]]
[[Category:South African political music artists]]
[[Category:FAO goodwill ambassadors]]
[[Category:Grammy Award winners]]
[[Category:Heads Up International artists]]
[[Category:Music in the movement against apartheid]]
[[Category:Musicians who died on stage]]
[[Category:Musicians from Johannesburg]]
[[Category:South African actresses]]
[[Category:South African exiles]]
[[Category:South African expatriates in Belgium]]
[[Category:South African expatriates in Guinea]]
[[Category:South African expatriates in the United States]]
[[Category:South African people of Swazi descent]]
[[Category:South African Protestants]]
[[Category:South African world music musicians]]
[[Category:Strut Records artists]]
[[Category:Wrasse Records artists]]
[[Category:Xhosa people]]
[[Category:Swahili-language singers of South Africa]]
[[Category:English-language singers from South Africa]]
[[Category:Xhosa-language singers of South Africa]]
[[Category:Zulu-language singers of South Africa]]