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“When you speak about Miriam Makeba in South Africa, it’s similar to talking about a royal figure,” remarks Alesandra Seutin. Known as the Empress of African Song, Makeba also spent time in Greenwich Village with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Beginning as a teenager dispatched to labor to support her family in Johannesburg, she later served as an envoy for the nation, then the country’s official delegate to the United Nations. An outspoken anti-apartheid activist, she was the wife to a Black Panther. Her remarkable story and impact motivate the choreographer’s latest work, the performance, set for its UK premiere.

The Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

The show combines movement, live music, and oral storytelling in a theatrical piece that isn’t a straightforward biodrama but utilizes Makeba’s history, particularly her experience of banishment: after moving to the city in the year, Makeba was barred from her homeland for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was banned from the US after wedding Black Panther activist her spouse. The performance resembles a ceremonial tribute, a deconstructed funeral – part eulogy, some festivity, part provocation – with a fabulous vocalist the performer at the centre bringing her music to vibrant life.

Strength and elegance … the production.

In South Africa, a shebeen is an under-the-radar gathering place for locally made drinks and lively conversation, often presided over by a host. Makeba’s mother the matriarch was a shebeen queen who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was a newborn. Incapable of covering the penalty, Christina was incarcerated for half a year, taking her baby with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey started – just one of the things the choreographer learned when researching her story. “Numerous tales!” says Seutin, when we meet in Brussels after a performance. Her father is from Belgium and she was raised there before moving to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she founded her company the ensemble. Her South African mother would sing Makeba’s songs, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when she was a youngster, and move along in the living room.

Melodies of liberation … the artist performs at Wembley Stadium in 1988.

A ten years back, her parent had cancer and was in hospital in London. “I paused my career for a quarter to look after her and she was constantly requesting Miriam Makeba. It delighted her when we were performing as one,” Seutin recalls. “I had so much time to kill at the hospital so I started researching.” In addition to reading about her victorious homecoming to the nation in the year, after the freedom of Nelson Mandela (whom she had encountered when he was a legal professional in the 1950s), Seutin found that she had been a breast cancer survivor in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter the girl passed away in labor in the year, and that because of her banishment she hadn’t been able to attend her parent’s funeral. “Observing individuals and you look at their achievements and you overlook that they are struggling like everyone,” says Seutin.

Creation and Themes

All these thoughts went into the creation of the show (premiered in Brussels in 2023). Thankfully, Seutin’s mother’s therapy was effective, but the idea for the piece was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. Within that, she pulls out elements of her life story like memories, and references more broadly to the theme of displacement and dispossession today. While it’s not explicit in the show, Seutin had in mind a second protagonist, a contemporary version who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these alter egos of characters connected to the icon to welcome this newcomer.”

Melodies of banishment … performers in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the shebeen’s local drink, the multi-talented performers appear possessed by beat, in synthesis with the players on stage. Her choreography includes various forms of dance she has absorbed over the time, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the international cast’ personal styles, including urban dances like the form.

Honoring strength … the creator.

Seutin was surprised to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the cast were unaware about the singer. (Makeba died in 2008 after having a cardiac event on stage in the country.) Why should new audiences learn about the legend? “In my view she would motivate the youth to advocate what they are, speaking the truth,” remarks Seutin. “However she did it very elegantly. She’d say something meaningful and then sing a lovely melody.” Seutin wanted to take the similar method in this production. “We see dancing and hear melodies, an element of entertainment, but intertwined with strong messages and moments that hit. This is what I admire about her. Because if you are being overly loud, people may ignore. They back away. Yet she achieved it in a manner that you would accept it, and understand it, but still be blessed by her ability.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is showing in the city, the dates