Obit: RIP Miriam Makeba (10 November 2008)

Subject: RIP Miriam Makeba
From: Pauline L
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 03:16 AM

Miriam Makeba, the South African folksinger and anti-apartheid activist, has just died of a heart attack at the age of 76. Fittingly, she died at the end of a concert against organized crime in which she had sung. Here is the article from the Associated Press.

Activist-Singer Miriam Makeba Dies in Italy at 76


ROME – Miriam Makeba, the South African folk singer and anti-apartheid activist fondly known as "Mama Africa," died early Monday in southern Italy after performing at a concert against organized crime, hospital officials said. She was 76.

The emergency room of the Pineta Grande Clinic, a private facility in Castel Volturno, near Naples, confirmed Italian news reports that the singer had died after being brought there.

The ANSA news agency reported that Makeba apparently suffered a heart attack just at the end of the concert, where she had sung for about 30 minutes to show solidarity for Italian journalist Roberto Saviano, who received death threats after writing a book about the Camorra, the Naples-area crime syndicate.

The news of Makeba's death caused shock and grief in South Africa.

Arts and Culture Ministry spokesman Sandile Memela described her as an international icon.

"It's a monumental loss not only to South African society in general but for humanity," he said.

Tributes poured in on morning radio talk shows for the woman who wooed the world with her sultry voice and soft eyes and who was exiled from her homeland for more than 30 years.

Makeba first came to international prominence when she starred in the anti-apartheid documentary "Come Back, Africa" in 1959. In 1960, when she tried to fly home for her mother's funeral, she discovered her passport had been revoked.

In 1963, she appeared before the U.N. Special Committee on Apartheid to call for an international boycott on South Africa. The South African government responded by banning her records, including hits like "Pata Pata," "The Click Song" ("Qongqothwane" in Xhosa), and "Malaika."

In 1966, Makeba received the Grammy Award for Best Folk Recording together with Harry Belafonte for "An Evening With Belafonte/Makeba." The album dealt with the political plight of black South Africans under apartheid.

She only returned to her homeland with the crumbling of apartheid in the early 1990s.

"It was like a revival," she said. "My music having been banned for so long, that people still felt the same way about me was too much for me. I just went home and I cried."

Subject: RE: RIP Miriam Makeba
From: Rasener
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 04:22 AM

That is very sad to hear. Miriam (Zenzile Makeba Qgwashu Nguvama Yiketheli Nxgowa Bantana Balomzi Xa Ufun Ubajabulisa Ubaphekeli Mbiza Yotshwala Sithi Xa Saku Qgiba Ukutja Sithathe Izitsha Sizi Khabe Singama Lawu Singama Qgwashu Singama Nqamla Nqgithi) RIP. What you stood for and what you achieved will not be forgotten.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=MB26L8nbRiw&feature=related

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriam_Makeba

Subject: RE: RIP Miriam Makeba
From: bobad
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 07:11 AM

Another good one gone, RIP.

Subject: RE: RIP Miriam Makeba
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 07:15 AM

She was for me, and I assume for many others, the first African 'voice' I came to know and love.

Thanks Miriam.

JM

Subject: RE: RIP Miriam Makeba
From: NormanD
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 07:19 AM

Beautiful and young, she was filmed (clandestinely) in 1960 for a documentary film on apartheid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spuz9X8fWjI

May she rest in peace and be forever remembered. Miriam Makeba was a wonderful singer and fighter to the very end of her life.

Subject: RE: RIP Miriam Makeba
From: fat B****rd
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 07:21 AM

I only know her from The Click Song and Pata Pata. Love them both. RIP Miriam.

Subject: RE: RIP Miriam Makeba
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 07:43 AM

Very sad. RIP.

Subject: Obit: Miriam Makeba
From: SINSULL
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 08:25 AM

Immediately after a concert.
RIP, great lady.

Somehow this makes me feel very old and very sad.
Mary

Subject: RE: Obit: Miriam Makeba
From: SINSULL
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 08:28 AM

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27637804/

Subject: RE: Obit: Miriam Makeba
From: Leadfingers
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 08:46 AM

Another South African who was forced into eile for her political views ! A great loss to the world of Music .

Subject: RE: Obit: Miriam Makeba
From: alanabit
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 08:48 AM

I had never heard of her when she appeared after The Scorpions, AC/DC and Cheap Trick (I kid you not) and just before The Who. That was in August of 1979. She charmed the ass off the audience in that Nürnberg Stadion (the scene of the infamous National Socialist rallies in the thirties). I don't know much about her life or her music, but her energy and warmth certainly cut through in even the most incongruous setting. Her wonderful recording of "Malaika" (with Belafonte) was something I discovered years later. May she rest in peace. She did a good job while she was among us.

Subject: RE: RIP Miriam Makeba
From: topical tom
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 09:51 AM

Another great one has joined the celestial choir. RIP.

Subject: Obit: Miriam Makeba Nov 10th 2008
From: Wesley S
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 10:30 AM

Obit from NPR

Sad but true -

Morning Edition, November 10, 2008 - Grammy award-winning South African singer Miriam Makeba has died. The great-grandmother — known affectionately as "Mama Africa" — reportedly suffered a heart attack after performing at an anti-mafia concert Sunday in southern Italy. She was 76.

Miriam Zenzile Makeba embodied the pan-Africanist spirit of the 1960s, when she burst onto the international stage and unwittingly became the voice and symbol of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa.

Subject: Obit: Miriam Makeba
From: Genie
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 10:31 AM

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/nov/10/miriam-makeba-obituary

Very sad news.   One of the earliest "folk" albums I bought was Miriam's, back in 1962 - the one that had "The Click Song" and "Love Tastes Like Strawberries" and "The Naughty Little Flea" and many other delightful songs.    I spent many an hour in the living room of the Judson Memorial Church Student House listening to Miriam, as well as Miles Davis, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan.   

Then just a few years ago I was delighted to hear Miriam again -- along with her granddaughter -- at one of the concerts in the ampitheater at the Washington Park Zoo here in Portland, OR.   Her voice was still amazing, at ca. age 70-71.    And, of course, I still delight in watching the video of Paul Simon's African Concert, with Miriam "Mama Africa" Makeba as a featured performer.

Another great one gone too soon.

Genie

Subject: RE: RIP Miriam Makeba
From: Genie
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 10:42 AM

Trivia, perhaps, but after wondering for decades how to pronounce her last name, I finally got my answer when I heard Miriam at the Washington Park Zoo concert.   
I had called her "Miriam Makeeba" and usually heard her last name pronounced that way, but in that concert she clearly referred to herself as "Miriam Makayba" (or "Makehba").

Miriam Makeba w Paul Simon

N'Kosi Sikeleli Africa

Lots of other good YouTubes of Miriam to be found once you click on either of those links.

Subject: RE: Obit: Miriam Makeba Nov 10th 2008
From: Genie
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 10:47 AM

Here's Miriam with her daughter Bongi: Miriam Makeba & Bongi Makeba - Ngoma Nkurila

Miriam Makeba: "The Click Song"

Subject: RE: RIP Miriam Makeba
From: Azizi
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 10:47 AM

Ditto what everyone else has written about Miriam Makeba's music and activism.

I want to also thank Miriam Makeba for being a wonderful role model for many Black women throughout the world who had diffculty recognizing their physical beauty.

I used past tense but Miriam Makeba will always be a model of a beautiful, caring, strong Black woman.

Subject: Obit: Miriam Makeba, November 10, 2008
From: Genie
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 11:18 AM

Here's Miriam with Paul Simon performing "Joseph" at Paul's African Concert but with Miriam doing her part in Xhosa. (Linda Ronstadt did that part in English on the "Graceland" album.)
One of the highlights is how Miriam finishes the song with what I call her "musical heavy breathing" thing.
I first heard her do that back about 1968, when I got to see her live in concert in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois (at the University Of lllinois).    That "musica heavy breathing thing" she did was amazing -- and very sensual!!

Subject: RE: RIP Miriam Makeba
From: catspaw49
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 11:18 AM

Nothing to add but more sadness from here as well. A magnificent example of the human being and her death, though just another element in the natural course of life, is still very a great loss to us all. A life well lived for humanity.


Spaw

Subject: RE: RIP Miriam Makeba
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 11:25 AM

I first heard her extraordinary voice on a concert album "Belafonte at Carnegie Hall," if recollection serves correctly. I think it was in about 1959-60. She performed the "Click Song" and, while I will never forget her singing, her speaking voice while introducing her song had a mesmerizing quality about it - sweet and soft as a young girl's, yet very strong and confident. To all in Africa and elsewhere who were affected by her life, rejoice that we were all privileged to have her among us.

Subject: RE: RIP Miriam Makeba
From: Rasener
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 11:29 AM

As this was the first thread, maybe one of those wonderful elves in the back ground could link the other one to this, so there is only one thread.

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Miriam Makeba (10 November 2008)
From: Genie
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 12:46 PM

They've been merged, I think, with all the posts now in this thread.

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Miriam Makeba (10 November 2008)
From: Rasener
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 12:51 PM

Ah OK

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Miriam Makeba (10 November 2008)
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 01:05 PM

Sad to hear this. I echo what Spaw said. It may be natural, but it is still sad and she was a Light in the world.

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Miriam Makeba (10 November 2008)
From: open mike
Date: 10 Nov 08 - 01:55 PM

was it natural or planned?
if she was taking a stand
against organized crime &
in solidarity with 6 who
had been killed, might there
have been some who resented
her? I hope this is investigated
thoroughly.

rest in peace and thanks for the
music, I recall her making music
together with Hugh Masekela, who
she married.


these excerpts from AP news:

Miriam Makeba was for some years
married to trumpet player and
colleague Hugh Masekela.

But she fell briefly out of favor
when she married black power activist
Stokely Carmichael — later known as
Kwame Ture — and moved to Guinea in
the late 1960s.

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Miriam Makeba (10 November 2008)
From: Pauline L
Date: 11 Nov 08 - 04:44 AM

Thank you all for your comments and links to news articles and youtube videos. Miriam Makebo used her beautiful voice to serve her ideals, first for the anti-apartheid cause and later, for other causes. She never swerved from her dedication. Two of my favorite videos of her singing are from her concert with Paul Simon in Africa on his Graceland tour singing Under African Skies and the South African National anthem.

My only problem with all this is that I can't stop listening to her. I've gotten very little sleep for the last two nights.

Miriam, your lifelong use of your musical talent to righting the wrongs in the world is an inspiration to all of us. RIP.

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Miriam Makeba (10 November 2008)
From: Genie
Date: 11 Nov 08 - 05:16 AM

Miriam Makeba, 76, Singer and Activist, Dies/

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Miriam Makeba (10 November 2008)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 11 Nov 08 - 08:38 AM

She certainly did her best to make this a better world.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Miriam Makeba (10 November 2008)
From: GUEST,Bob Ryszkiewicz
Date: 11 Nov 08 - 09:00 AM

Rest in Peace...

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Miriam Makeba (10 November 2008)
From: mouldy
Date: 11 Nov 08 - 01:29 PM

Rest in peace, Mama Africa.

Lived in South Africa for a couple of years before things changed for the better politically. Got to love African music.
The year after we got back, I remember Miriam (and it IS pronounced "Makayba") singing the "click" song for Terry Wogan on his chat show - wonderful. What a lovely warm lady!

Andrea

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Miriam Makeba (10 November 2008)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 11 Nov 08 - 02:04 PM

Wish I'd been into African music all those years I lived in Africa! She was a great, great person.

Subject: Obit: miriam makeba.
From: GUEST,pianomansibs
Date: 16 Nov 08 - 11:17 AM

Im really saddened to hear of the death of Miriam makeba she had a beautiful sound that was in living tradition to her native Afica.
for those of you who are not familiar she sang with Paul Simon on the song (under African skies)
The 76-year-old anti-apartheid activist collapsed on stage as she sang at the concert in the town of Castel Volturno, near Naples, where mafia hit men gunned down a group of African immigrants in September

Makeba was on stage when she was heard to say "I don't feel well," Italian media reported, before collapsing.

She was rushed to the private Pineta Grande Clinic in Castel Volturno, where she later died.

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Miriam Makeba (10 November 2008)
From: katlaughing
Date: 16 Nov 08 - 11:41 AM

Above was transferred from a duplicate thread.

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Miriam Makeba (10 November 2008)
From: GUEST,Bob Ryszkiewicz
Date: 16 Nov 08 - 12:44 PM

Rest in Peace Mama Africa...

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Miriam Makeba (10 November 2008)
From: Azizi
Date: 16 Nov 08 - 12:48 PM

Miriam Makeba sings "When I Pass On"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs_CxmMMpW4

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Miriam Makeba (10 November 2008)
From: Big Mick
Date: 16 Nov 08 - 01:12 PM

There is not one singer of folk, trad, or any music for that matter, who does not owe a debt of gratitude to Sister Miriam Makeba. God be good to her, and thanks for leaving us such a legacy. Her voice is the voice of Africa, and all of that great continents grandchildren around the world.

And thanks be for allowing her to leave us as she wanted to ... after a concert onstage and singing. What a blessing!!

All the best, Mama Africa,

Mick

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Miriam Makeba (10 November 2008)
From: Genie
Date: 17 Nov 08 - 04:07 AM

One of the obits said she was survived by several grandchildren but no mention of a daughter.   Did Bongi go on before her mother?

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Miriam Makeba (10 November 2008)
From: Azizi
Date: 17 Nov 08 - 09:45 AM

Miriam Makeba's daughter Bongi died in 1985 at age 36 from complications of a miscarriage.

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Miriam Makeba (10 November 2008)
From: Genie
Date: 17 Nov 08 - 08:51 PM

That's so sad, Azizi.

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Miriam Makeba (10 November 2008)
From: Azizi
Date: 17 Nov 08 - 09:21 PM

Yes. It is.

Subject: RIP Miriam Makeba
From: Vicar
Date: 22 Nov 08 - 10:35 PM

I heard, with great sadness, that Miriam Makeba died this week after singing her last Click Song in concert on a stage in Italy. Our group, the Chad Mitchell Trio recorded with her, toured with her, participated in the civil rights struggle with her for years. I have so many memories of her which I would like share here at Mudcat. I'd also like to hear what others have thought of Miriam - her music and the contribution she made to folk music and the world.

                                                                JOE FRAZIER
                                                                CHAD MITCHELL TRIO

Transferred from another thread.
el joe clone