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The Weekly Observer (Kampala)

Uganda: Miriam Makeba's Torch Snuffed Out

Carolyne Nakazibwe and Diana Nabiruma

12 November 2008

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opinion

A month after she was here for the Warid Kampala Jazz Festival, South African singer Miriam Makeba, 76, is dead. Those who watched her put up her soulful Afropop show at the jazz concert will remember her for the stunning energy.

But journalists who turned up for her earlier arrival into the country were shocked at how withered and frail she looked. She was walking with the aid of a cane and support from organizers. But her career and music must have been that important to her, that when she got on stage, the cane was never seen by her fans and she could still shake it for old times' sake.

It is no wonder then that Mama Africa, as she was fondly known by fans, died on the job. She had just finished a 30-minutes performance in Castel Volturno, Italy when she collapsed as she left the stage and was rushed to a clinic. According to media reports, she died in the wee hours of Monday morning of a heart attack.

To the music fraternity, hers is another blow to the unique South African sound Ugandans love. Last year, reggae singer Lucky Dube was killed in a robbery case that turned ugly, leaving millions of his fans across Africa confounded. To date, it is believed no other African artiste has pulled concert crowds like Dube did in his Nile Hotel (now Serena) gardens shows.

Singer Richard Kawesa was in a meeting when The Weekly Observer called on Monday. He had no idea that Makeba had died. So, when asked for a comment on Makeba, he thought it was about the Jazz festival at Munyonyo last month. He was baffled by a woman her age dancing and performing like that.

After clarifying that the musician had died, he went into shocked silence, before the interviewer became the interviewee: "She is dead? What killed her? You said she is dead? Oh my goodness!"

Kawesa classifies Makeba as a legend. She was booked for concert after concert and in his book, this is a feat only legends can muster. He hopes budding musicians will take after her style of music which was good.

Musician Tshaka Mayanja said of Makeba's death: "Musicians like her are the originals and can never be replaced." He said that within the last two years, other legends like Isaac Hayes have died and the music industry will not be the same again.

Like Lucky Dube, Miriam Makeba's music was inspired by the apartheid times in South Africa.

According to different websites eulogizing her, Makeba was born in Johannesburg on March 4, 1932 to a Swazi mother and Xhosa father. She was once married to jazz sensation Hugh Masekela.

Her biggest classic to date is the Swahili song Malaika, and in 1967, she sang her signature tune Pata Pata, whose typical Xhosa clicks and Afropop beat still rock decades later.

In 1960 she tried to return to South Africa to bury her mother, but the apartheid state revoked her citizenship and later also banned her music. She lived in the United States and later in Guinea.

In 1985 her only daughter, Bongi, 36, died from complications from a miscarriage. It is said a cash-strapped Makeba could not afford a coffin for Bongi, and buried her alone with a few journalists covering the funeral.

When apartheid fell in 1990 and Nelson Mandela became South Africa's first post-apartheid president, the term 'home, sweet home' took on a new meaning for a broke Makeba as she stepped on South African soil for the first time in 31 years.

History will remember her as the first black African woman to win a Grammy Award in 1965.

Upon her return she released Homeland, a tribute to her coming back to South Africa. She also had a leading role with Whoopi Goldberg in the movie Sarafina.

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