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“If you talk about the legendary singer in the nation, it’s akin to referring about a sovereign,” remarks Alesandra Seutin. Known as the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist additionally associated in Greenwich Village with renowned musicians like prominent artists. Starting as a young person sent to work to support her family in the city, she later served as an envoy for the nation, then the country’s representative to the United Nations. An vocal anti-apartheid activist, she was the wife to a Black Panther. This rich life and legacy motivate the choreographer’s new production, Mimi’s Shebeen, scheduled for its UK premiere.

A Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

The show merges dance, live music, and spoken word in a theatrical piece that is not a simple biography but utilizes Makeba’s history, especially her experience of banishment: after moving to the city in the year, Makeba was prohibited from South Africa for three decades due to her opposition to segregation. Subsequently, she was banned from the US after marrying activist her spouse. The show is like a ceremonial tribute, a deconstructed funeral – part eulogy, part celebration, part provocation – with the exceptional South African singer Tutu Puoane at the centre bringing her music to dynamic existence.

Strength and elegance … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In South Africa, a shebeen is an under-the-radar venue for home-brewed liquor and animated discussions, often presided over by a host. Her parent Christina was a proprietress who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was a newborn. Incapable of covering the penalty, she was incarcerated for six months, taking her infant with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey started – just one of the things the choreographer discovered when researching her story. “So many stories!” exclaims she, when they met in Brussels after a performance. Her father is from Belgium and she mainly grew up there before relocating to study and work in the UK, where she founded her dance group the ensemble. Her parent would sing Makeba’s songs, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when Seutin was a child, and dance to them in the home.

Songs of freedom … Miriam Makeba performs at Wembley Stadium in the year.

A ten years back, Seutin’s mother had the illness and was in medical care in the city. “I paused my career for three months to take care of her and she was always requesting the singer. She was so happy when we were singing together,” she recalls. “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 freedom of Nelson Mandela (whom she had met when he was a legal professional in the era), she discovered that Makeba had been a someone who overcame illness in her youth, that Makeba’s daughter the girl passed away in childbirth in 1985, and that due to her exile she hadn’t been able to be present at her parent’s memorial. “You see people and you focus on their success and you overlook that they are struggling like everyone,” states the choreographer.

Development and Concepts

These reflections contributed to the making of the production (premiered in Brussels in 2023). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was effective, but the concept for the piece was to celebrate “death, life and mourning”. In this context, Seutin highlights elements of Makeba’s biography like memories, and nods more generally to the idea of displacement and dispossession today. Although it’s not explicit in the show, she had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a migrant. “And we gather as these other selves of characters linked with the icon to welcome this newcomer.”

Rhythms of exile … performers in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the venue’s local drink, the multi-talented performers appear taken over by beat, in synthesis with the musicians on stage. Her dance composition includes various forms of dance she has learned over the years, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ own vocabularies, including street styles like the form.

A celebration of resilience … Alesandra Seutin.

Seutin was taken aback to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the cast were unaware about the artist. (She died in 2008 after having a heart attack on stage in Italy.) Why should younger generations learn about Mama Africa? “In my view she would motivate young people to advocate what they are, speaking the truth,” says Seutin. “But she accomplished this very gracefully. She’d say something poignant and then sing a lovely melody.” She wanted to adopt the similar method in this work. “Audiences observe movement and listen to beautiful songs, an aspect of enjoyment, but mixed with strong messages and moments that resonate. That’s what I admire about her. Since if you are shouting too much, people won’t listen. They retreat. Yet she achieved it in a way that you would receive it, and hear it, but still be blessed by her talent.”

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