Mirriam Makeba concert will go

Fans will get the opportunity to pace down the memory lane and harmonize along as artists from different walls of the world will pay tribute to the late legendary and South Africa’s Goodwill Ambassador Miriam Makeba. The concert that was initially scheduled to take place in August was cancelled due to cancelled due to a legal battle between the arts and culture department, the Makeba Trust and the National Heritage Council.

On the bill a spectacular array of international musicians including Manu Dibango (Cameroon), Angelique Kidjo (Benin), Salif Keita (Mali), Busi Mhlongo, Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Abigail Kubeka, Dorothy Masuka, and Ntando will reprise songs like Patapata to commemorate the death of Mama Africa.

Event organizers are anticipating an overwhelming response to the three-day affair to be held from November 7 to 9. The event kick-starts with a free public concert on November 7 at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

On November 8 a music workshop will be held at Dr Miriam Makeba Hall at Unisa. The fun, however, does not end with the music, on November 9 a memorial gala dinner will be held at the State Theatre (this is by invitation only). The dinner will be attended by politicians, ambassadors, business people, Makeba’s family and close friends.

Miriam Makeba, considered musical royalty in South Africa and an ambassador of music throughout the world, passed away in November 10 at the age of 76 after performing at a concert in Castel Volturno, near Caserta in Italy, a concert organized to support writer Roberto Saviano in his stand against the Camorra, a mafia-like organization local to the Region of Campania.

Makeba suffered a heart attack after singing her hit song Pata Pata, and was taken to the Piñata Grande clinic where doctors were unable to revive her. Several reports gave her cause of death as cardiac arrest.

The tribute will not only salute Makeba’s music, but her status as a true ambassador of country music. Her career spanned half century, taking her from the townships of Johannesburg to the world stage.

Born in Johannesburg Makeba’s mother was a Swazi sangoma and her father, who died when she was six, was Xhosa. As a child, she sang at the Kilmerton Training Institute in Pretoria, which she attended for eight years.

Makeba first toured with an amateur group. Her professional career began in the 1950s with the Manhattan Brothers, before she formed her own group, The Skylarks, singing a blend of jazz and traditional melodies of South Africa.

In 1959, she performed in the musical King Kong alongside Hugh Masekela, her future husband. Though she was a successful recording artist, she was only receiving a few dollars for each recording session and no provisional royalties, and was keen to go to the United States. Her break came when she had a short guest appearance in the anti-apartheid documentary Come Back, Africa in 1959 by independent filmmaker Lionel Rogosin. The short cameo made an enormous impression on the viewers and Lionel Rogosin managed to organize a visa for her to leave South Africa and to attend the premiere of the film at the Venice Film Festival.