MAMA AFRICA (MOTION PICTURE)
Summary
This documentary feature profiles South African singer and activist Miriam Makeba.
Born in 1932, Makeba spent the first six months of her life in jail when her mother Christine was arrested for selling homemade beer. Following a turbulent childhood, Makeba joined a singing group in 1952 and "mesmerized" audience members with her singing talent and fashion sense. Fellow singer Abigail Kubeka visits the YMCA in Soweto, remembering its popularity as a blacks-only entertainment venue during the years of apartheid. When Makeba appeared in American filmmaker Lionel Rogosin's 1959 film "Come Back, Africa," she was banned from South Africa and separated from her only child, young daughter Bongi Makeba Lee. Traveling to America, Makeba performed in nightclubs and was "whisked away" by an entranced Harry Belafonte, who used his own fame to promote her career. Makeba's grandson Nelson Lumumba Lee talks about her strong sense of cultural roots, recalling how she referred to her music as "truth." Makeba also spoke at the United Nations about South Africa's turbulent political problems, describing life under apartheid as "a huge prison." As a result of her ban, Makeba was unable to attend her mother's funeral in 1960.
Makeba's band members describe their first trip to Africa with the singer, where she was regarded as "royalty." One of her most famous numbers was "Pata Pata," though she expressed dislike for its lack of serious meaning; its lyrics referred simply to a dance. African audiences were pleased with her frequent use of Swahili, Xhosa, and Sotho – dismissed as simply "click languages" by non-Africans – in her lyrics. Ex-husband Hugh Masekela recalls her interest in helping African students, and Makeba soon met "firebrand" Trinidadian-American racial activist Stokely Carmichael. When the two married in 1968, all of Makeba's U.S. performance dates were immediately canceled, owing to Carmichael's status in the controversial Black Panther party. Again feeling exiled, Makeba settled in Guinea, and Prime Minister Jean Marie Doré comments on how the country embraced her. Bongi became involved in her mother's career, writing a number of her popular songs. Later, Nelson tours his old hometown, talking to the Guinea locals about their memories of Makeba. He notes that the area visually resembled South Africa, explaining that Makeba never stopped missing her homeland.
Nelson's sister Zenzi Monique Lee recalls her grandmother's great love of cooking for visitors. In a recorded interview, Bongi explains why she views her mother as not simply her parent, but as "Mother Africa." Tragedy struck when Bongi's son Themba died after accidentally ingesting medicine, and Nelson and Zenzi describe their shock and delayed comprehension when Bongi herself died in childbirth in 1985. Footage documents how Guinea experienced a military coup in 1984 after the death of leader Sékou Touré, and a frightened Makeba escaped to Belgium. Expressing her longing for her long-absent homeland in songs such as "Soweto Blues," Makeba was finally allowed to return to South Africa in 1990, after Nelson Mandela's release from prison. She states that her first stop was at her mother's grave. Other African female singers, including Thandiswa and Suthukazi, discuss Makeba's significant influence on other artists, both in musical style and political activism; Masekela notes that Makeba was heartbroken to realize that "African unity" was unlikely to happen, even after the end of apartheid. Zenzi recalls her last encounter with her grandmother, and Nelson assembles Makeba's band on the anniversary of her death, hoping to achieve "closure" as they celebrate her life. Makeba performed her final concert in Italy on Nov. 9, 2008, and then collapsed of a heart attack shortly after stepping offstage. Zenzi explains that, as per her wishes, Makeba was cremated and her ashes spread "where the two oceans meet," symbolizing her lifelong dream of unity and harmony for the world.
Details
- NETWORK: N/A
- DATE:
- RUNNING TIME: 1:28:13
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 116588
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Public affairs/Documentaries; Biography; Musicians; South Africa - Race relations; Apartheid - South Africa; Women's Collection - Music
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Rainer Kölmel … Producer
- Mika Kaurismäki … Co-Producer, Director, Writer
- Don Edkins … Co-Producer, Writer
- Hans Robert Eisenhauer … Co-Producer
- Wasiliki Bleser … Creative Producer
- Brian Tilley … Creative Producer
- Peter Dress … Line Producer
- Andreas Schilling … Music by
- Abigail Kubeka … Interviewee
- Dorothy Masuku … Interviewee
- Nelson Lumumba Lee … Interviewee
- Hugh Masekela … Interviewee
- Jean Marie Doré … Interviewee
- Zenzi Monique Lee … Interviewee
- Thandiswa … Interviewee
- Suthukazi … Interviewee
- Harry Belafonte
- Stokely Carmichael
- Bongi Makeba Lee
- Christine Jele Makeba
- Miriam Makeba
- Nelson Mandela
- Lionel Rogosin
- Sékou Touré