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“Discussing about Miriam Makeba in South Africa, it’s akin to referring about a queen,” explains Alesandra Seutin. Called Mama Africa, the iconic artist also associated in New York with renowned musicians like prominent artists. Starting as a young person sent to work to support her family in the city, she eventually served as an envoy for the nation, then the country’s official delegate to the UN. An vocal campaigner against segregation, she was married to a Black Panther. Her remarkable story and impact motivate Seutin’s new production, the performance, scheduled for its British debut.

A Blend of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

The show merges dance, live music, and spoken word in a theatrical piece that is not a simple biography but draws on Makeba’s history, particularly her experience of banishment: after moving to the city in the year, Makeba was barred from South Africa for 30 years due to her opposition to segregation. Subsequently, she was banned from the US after marrying Black Panther activist her spouse. The show resembles a ritual of remembrance, a reimagined memorial – some praise, part celebration, part provocation – with a exceptional South African singer Tutu Puoane leading reviving her music to vibrant life.

Power and poise … the production.

In South Africa, a informal gathering spot is an under-the-radar gathering place for home-brewed liquor and lively conversation, often presided over by a shebeen queen. Her parent the matriarch was a shebeen queen who was detained for producing drinks without permission when Makeba was 18 days old. Incapable of covering the fine, Christina went to prison for six months, bringing her baby with her, which is how her eventful life began – just one of the details the choreographer discovered when studying Makeba’s life. “So many stories!” says Seutin, when we meet in Brussels after a show. Her parent is Belgian and she was raised there before relocating to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she established her company Vocab Dance. Her South African mother would perform her music, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when Seutin was a youngster, and move along in the home.

Melodies of liberation … Miriam Makeba sings at the venue in 1988.

A decade ago, Seutin’s mother had cancer and was in medical care in London. “I paused my career for a quarter to look after her and she was constantly requesting the singer. She was so happy when we were performing as one,” she recalls. “There was ample time to kill at the facility so I started researching.” As well as reading about her victorious homecoming to South Africa in the year, after the freedom of the leader (whom she had encountered when he was a young lawyer in the 1950s), she discovered that she had been a someone who overcame illness in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter the girl died in labor in the year, and that because of her exile she could not be present at her own mother’s funeral. “You see people and you focus on their achievements and you forget that they are struggling like everyone,” says the choreographer.

Development and Themes

All these thoughts went into the creation of the show (first staged in Brussels in the year). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s therapy was effective, but the concept for the piece was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. Within that, she highlights threads of Makeba’s biography like flashbacks, and references more generally to the idea of uprooting and loss nowadays. Although it’s not explicit in the show, Seutin had in mind a additional character, a contemporary version who is a migrant. “And we gather as these alter egos of characters linked with the icon to welcome this young migrant.”

Rhythms of exile … musicians in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the performance, rather than being intoxicated by the venue’s local drink, the multi-talented dancers appear taken over by rhythm, in synthesis with the musicians on stage. Seutin’s choreography includes multiple styles of dance she has absorbed over the years, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ own vocabularies, including urban dances like the form.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

She was surprised to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the group were unaware about the artist. (She passed away in 2008 after having a cardiac event on stage in the country.) Why should younger generations learn about Mama Africa? “In my view she would inspire young people to stand for what they are, expressing honesty,” says the choreographer. “But she did it very gracefully. She expressed something poignant and then perform a lovely melody.” She wanted to take the same approach in this work. “Audiences observe movement and hear melodies, an element of entertainment, but intertwined with strong messages and moments that hit. This is what I respect about Miriam. Since if you are shouting too much, people may ignore. They retreat. Yet she did it in a way that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be blessed by her talent.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is at London, the dates