Miriam Makeba

Also known as Mama Africa, Zenzile Miriam Makeba, Miriam Zenzi Makeba, Zensile Makeba Qgwashu Nguvama Yiketheli Nxgowa Bantana Balomzi Xa Ufnu Ubajabulisa Ubaphekeli Mbiza Yotshwala Sithi Xa Saku Qgiba Ukutja Sithathe Izitsha Sizi Khabe Singama Lawu Singama Qgwashu Singama Nqamla Nqgithi, Mirjam Makeba, Miriam Zenat Makeba

South African singer and civil rights activist (1932–2008)

AI overview

Miriam Makeba was a South African singer and civil rights activist who used her music and international platform to speak out against apartheid and promote social justice. Her career and activism made her an important cultural figure in the fight against racial discrimination, particularly during the mid-to-late 20th century.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Works: 9

Top works

Makeba
World of African Song
Welela
Myriam Makeba
Enregistrement public au theatre des Champs-Elysees (30 Septembre 1977)

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type: Person
Gender: Female
Origin: South Africa
Active from: 1932-03-04
Active to: 2008-11-10

2008 universal fire victimmarabisongwriterworld

Discography

Official site Discogs Stream

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners: 290,920
Total plays: 2,571,936

Recent publications · Crossref

5 total works indexed

A global reference for human genetic variation
· 2015 · cited 17,410x
Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
· 2020 · cited 15,384x
Prodigal: prokaryotic gene recognition and translation initiation site identification
· 2010 · cited 11,467x
Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 354 diseases and injuries for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017
· 2018 · cited 10,811x
Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean
· 2015 · cited 10,752x

via Crossref · CC0

Quotes

“African music, though very old, is always being rediscovered in the West.”
“I will probably die singing.”
“When I was young, I never bought records because my brother Joseph played saxophone and had a record player. I loved listening to his records: The Dorsey Brothers, Duke Ellington, all the big American jazz bands, and vocalists like Ella Fitzgerald, Ernestine Anderson, and Kitty White, a singer from the US who was a friend of Nina Simone. Nobody in America seems to know about her, but she was quite popular in South Africa.”
“In those years, when I came to the States, people were always asking me why I didn’t sing anymore. I’d tell them, ‘I sing all around the world—Asia, Africa, Europe—but if you don’t sing in the US, then you haven’t really made it.’ That’s why I’ll always be grateful to Paul Simon. He allowed me to bring my music back to my friends in this country.”
“I didn’t have much, but I was always happy to share what I did have. It seemed like every African that came to New York City would show up at my apartment door at dinnertime, and I couldn’t turn them away. I wasn’t much older than any of them, but they started calling me ‘Mama Africa’ and the name stuck.”
“In New York I heard A Piece of Ground, written by a white South African, Jeremy Taylor. I modified it a little and sang it myself. That song is very special to me because it deals with the land question in southern Africa. We were dispossessed of our land.”

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Wikidata facts

Official website: www.miriammakeba.co.za
Image: Miriam Makeba (1968).png

Show 8 more facts

Commons category: Miriam Makeba
date of birth: 1932-03-04
date of death: 2008-11-10
birth name: Zenzile Miriam Makeba
pseudonym: Mama Africa
start of work period: 1953-00-00
end of work period: 2008-00-00
social media followers: 36000

Sources (7)

via Wikidata · CC0

~40 min read

Article

Zenzile Miriam Makeba (/məˈkeɪbə/ mə-KAY-bə, Xhosa: [máˈkʼêːɓà̤] ; 4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist. Associated with musical genres including Afropop, jazz, and world music, she was an advocate against apartheid and white-minority government in South Africa.

Born in Johannesburg to Swazi and 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, 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.