Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Zenzile Miriam Makeba was born on March 4, 1932 in the Prospect Township of Johannesburg, South Africa. Known to her many fans as simply Miriam Makeba or Mama Afrika, her career spanned more than 50 years.
As a child, she sang at the Kilmerton Training Institute in Pretoria, while attending for eight years followed by touring with an amateur group. Her professional career began in the 1950s with the Manhattan Brothers prior to her forming her own group, The Skylarks, singing a blend of jazz and traditional melodies of South Africa.
By 1959 she was performing in the musical King Kong with her future husband Hugh Masekela and though she became a successful recording artist, she received a pittance for her work without residual royalties. However in the same year her big break arrived when she was given a short guest appearance in the indie anti-apartheid documentary “Come Back, Africa” and she made such an impression that the director managed a visa for her to leave the country for the Venice Film Festival.
Traveling to London she met Harry Belafonte who assisted her in gaining entry to and fame in the United States. She released many of her most famous hits there including “Pata Pata”, “The Click Song” and “Malaika”. In 1966, Makeba, in collaboration with Belafonte received a Grammy for Best Folk recording “An Evening With Belafonte/Makeba” that dealt South African apartheid.
Miriam went on to perform at the 1974 Rumble In The Jungle between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali, on Paul Simon’s Graceland, authored an autobiography, starred in Sarafina, guest appeared on the Cosby Show, took part in Amandla: A Revolution in Four Part Harmony and returned to South Africa under the persuasion of Nelson Mandela.
She was awarded the Dag Hammarskjöld Peace Prize, was named Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, was awarded the UN Gold Otto Hahn Peace Medal and voted 38th in the top 100 Great South Africans. While on a concert stage taking a stand against injustice against humanity singing her hit song “Pata Pata”, she succumbed to a heart attack on November 9, 2008.
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