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“Discussing about the legendary singer in the nation, it’s akin to referring about a sovereign,” states the choreographer. Known as the Empress of African Song, Makeba also associated in Greenwich Village with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Beginning as a young person dispatched to labor to provide for her relatives in Johannesburg, she eventually became a diplomat for the nation, then the country’s representative to the UN. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was married to a activist. Her remarkable story and impact inspire the choreographer’s new production, the performance, scheduled for its British debut.

A Blend of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

Mimi’s Shebeen merges movement, live music, and spoken word in a theatrical piece that isn’t a straightforward biodrama but draws on Makeba’s history, especially her experience of banishment: after relocating to New York in the year, Makeba was barred from South Africa for three decades due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was excluded from the US after marrying activist Stokely Carmichael. The show resembles a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – part eulogy, some festivity, part provocation – with a exceptional vocalist the performer leading bringing Makeba’s songs to dynamic existence.

Power and poise … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In South Africa, a informal gathering spot is an under-the-radar venue for home-brewed liquor and animated discussions, often managed by a shebeen queen. Makeba’s mother the matriarch was a shebeen queen who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Makeba was 18 days old. Unable to pay the penalty, she was incarcerated for half a year, bringing her infant with her, which is how her remarkable journey began – just one of the details Seutin discovered when studying her story. “Numerous tales!” says Seutin, when they met in the city after a show. Her parent is Belgian and she was raised there before moving to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she established her dance group the ensemble. Her South African mother would sing her music, such as the tunes, when she was a child, and move along in the home.

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

A ten years back, her parent had the illness and was in hospital in the city. “I stopped working for three months to look after her and she was constantly asking for Miriam Makeba. It delighted her when we were singing together,” she remembers. “There was ample time to kill at the hospital so I started researching.” As well as reading about Makeba’s triumphant return to South Africa in 1990, after the release of the leader (whom she had encountered when he was a legal professional in the 1950s), Seutin discovered that Makeba had been a breast cancer survivor in her youth, that Makeba’s daughter Bongi passed away in childbirth in 1985, and that due to her banishment she hadn’t been able to be present at her own mother’s funeral. “You see people and you focus on their success and you overlook that they are struggling like everyone,” states the choreographer.

Development and Concepts

All these thoughts went into the making of the production (first staged in the city in 2023). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s therapy was effective, but the idea for the piece was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. Within that, she highlights threads of her life story like flashbacks, and nods more generally to the theme of uprooting and loss today. Although it’s not overt in the show, Seutin had in mind a second protagonist, a modern-day Miriam who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these alter egos of characters connected to the icon to welcome this newcomer.”

Rhythms of exile … musicians in the show.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the multi-talented performers appear possessed by beat, in harmony with the musicians on the platform. Her dance composition includes various forms of dance she has absorbed over the years, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the international cast’ own vocabularies, including urban dances like the form.

A celebration of resilience … Alesandra Seutin.

She was surprised to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the group were unaware about the singer. (Makeba died in 2008 after having a cardiac event on stage in Italy.) Why should younger generations learn about the legend? “I think she would inspire young people to advocate what they believe in, speaking the truth,” says Seutin. “But she did it very gracefully. She expressed something meaningful and then perform a lovely melody.” Seutin aimed to adopt the similar method in this production. “We see movement and hear melodies, an aspect of entertainment, but intertwined with strong messages and moments that resonate. That’s what I respect about her. Because if you are being overly loud, people won’t listen. They retreat. But she did it in a way that you would receive it, and understand it, but still be graced by her talent.”

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