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“Discussing about the legendary singer in the nation, it’s like speaking about a royal figure,” explains Alesandra Seutin. Referred to as the Empress of African Song, Makeba additionally associated in New York with renowned musicians like prominent artists. Beginning as a young person dispatched to labor to support her family in Johannesburg, she later became a diplomat for Ghana, then Guinea’s representative to the United Nations. An outspoken anti-apartheid activist, she was married to a Black Panther. This rich story and impact inspire the choreographer’s new production, Mimi’s Shebeen, scheduled for its UK premiere.

The Blend of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

The show combines dance, live music, and spoken word in a stage work that is not a straightforward biodrama but utilizes Makeba’s history, especially her experience of banishment: after moving to the city in the year, Makeba was barred from her homeland for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Subsequently, she was banned from the United States after marrying activist Stokely Carmichael. The performance resembles a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – some praise, part celebration, part provocation – with the exceptional South African singer Tutu Puoane at the centre bringing Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Strength and elegance … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In South Africa, a informal gathering spot is an under-the-radar gathering place for home-brewed liquor and lively conversation, usually managed by a shebeen queen. Her parent the matriarch was a shebeen queen who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Makeba was 18 days old. Unable to pay the fine, Christina went to prison for six months, taking her baby with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey started – just one of the details Seutin learned when studying her story. “So many stories!” exclaims Seutin, when we meet in Brussels after a performance. Seutin’s father is Belgian and she mainly grew up there before relocating to study and work in the UK, where she established her dance group the ensemble. Her South African mother would sing her music, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when she was a youngster, and dance to them in the living room.

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

A decade ago, her parent had cancer and was in hospital in London. “I stopped working for three months to take care of her and she was always asking for Miriam Makeba. She was so happy when we were performing as one,” Seutin remembers. “There was ample time to pass at the hospital so I started researching.” In addition to reading about Makeba’s triumphant return to South Africa in the year, after the release of the leader (whom she had met when he was a young lawyer in the era), she discovered that Makeba had been a breast cancer survivor in her youth, that Makeba’s daughter Bongi died in labor in the year, and that due to her banishment she hadn’t been able to be present at her parent’s memorial. “You see people and you look at their success and you forget that they are facing challenges like everyone,” says the choreographer.

Development and Themes

All these thoughts went into the creation of the production (premiered in Brussels in 2023). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was effective, but the idea for the work was to honor “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, she highlights threads of Makeba’s biography like flashbacks, and references more broadly to the theme of displacement and dispossession today. While it’s not overt in the show, Seutin had in mind a second protagonist, a modern-day Miriam who is a traveler. “And we gather as these other selves of characters connected to Miriam Makeba to welcome this newcomer.”

Rhythms of exile … musicians in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the performance, rather than being inebriated by the shebeen’s local drink, the multi-talented dancers appear taken over by beat, in synthesis with the players on the platform. Seutin’s choreography includes various forms of dance she has learned over the years, including from African nations, plus the global performers’ own vocabularies, including street styles like the form.

A celebration of resilience … the creator.

Seutin was taken aback to find that some of the newer, international in the group were unaware about the singer. (Makeba died in the year after having a heart attack on stage in Italy.) Why should younger generations learn about the legend? “I think she would motivate young people to stand for what they believe in, expressing honesty,” remarks Seutin. “However she accomplished this very elegantly. She expressed something poignant and then perform a beautiful song.” Seutin aimed to take the same approach in this work. “We see movement and hear melodies, an element of enjoyment, but intertwined with powerful ideas and moments that hit. That’s what I admire about Miriam. Since if you are shouting too much, people won’t listen. They back away. Yet 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 at the city, the dates