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“Discussing about the legendary singer in South Africa, it’s similar to talking about a sovereign,” remarks Alesandra Seutin. Known as the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist additionally spent time in Greenwich Village with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Beginning as a young person sent to work to provide for her relatives in Johannesburg, she later became a diplomat for Ghana, then the country’s representative to the United Nations. An outspoken anti-apartheid activist, she was married to a activist. This rich story and impact inspire Seutin’s new production, the performance, set for its UK premiere.

The Fusion of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

The show combines movement, live music, and oral storytelling in a theatrical piece that isn’t a straightforward biodrama but utilizes her past, especially her story of exile: after moving to the city in the year, Makeba was barred from South Africa for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was banned from the US after marrying activist Stokely Carmichael. The show resembles a ceremonial tribute, a deconstructed funeral – some praise, part celebration, some challenge – with the exceptional South African singer Tutu Puoane leading reviving her music to dynamic existence.

Power and poise … the production.

In the country, a shebeen is an unofficial gathering place for locally made drinks and animated discussions, usually presided over by a host. Makeba’s mother Christina was a proprietress who was arrested for illegally brewing alcohol when Makeba was a newborn. Unable to pay the fine, Christina was incarcerated for half a year, taking her infant with her, which is how her remarkable journey started – just one of the things Seutin learned when researching her story. “So many stories!” exclaims she, when we meet in Brussels after a performance. Her father is from Belgium and she mainly grew up there before relocating to study and work in the United Kingdom, where she founded her company Vocab Dance. Her parent would perform her music, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a child, and move along in the living room.

Melodies of liberation … the artist sings at the venue in the year.

A ten years back, Seutin’s mother had cancer and was in hospital in the city. “I paused my career for three months to look after her and she was constantly asking for Miriam Makeba. It delighted her when we were singing together,” she recalls. “There was ample time to kill at the hospital so I began investigating.” In addition to reading about her victorious homecoming to South Africa in 1990, after the release of Nelson Mandela (whom she had met when he was a young lawyer in the era), she found that Makeba had been a someone who overcame illness in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter Bongi passed away in labor in 1985, and that due to her banishment she could not attend her parent’s funeral. “Observing individuals and you look at their achievements and you forget that they are facing challenges like anyone else,” states the choreographer.

Creation and Themes

These reflections went into the creation of the show (first staged in the city in 2023). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was effective, but the idea for the work was to honor “death, life and mourning”. Within that, Seutin pulls out elements of her life story like flashbacks, and nods more generally to the theme of uprooting and loss today. Although it’s not explicit in the show, Seutin had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a traveler. “Together, we assemble as these other selves of personas connected to Miriam Makeba to greet this young migrant.”

Melodies of banishment … musicians in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the venue’s local drink, the skilled performers appear taken over by beat, in synthesis with the players on stage. Seutin’s choreography incorporates multiple styles of dance she has learned over the years, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the global performers’ 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 passed away in the year after having a heart attack on the platform in Italy.) Why should younger generations discover the legend? “In my view she would motivate young people to advocate what they are, speaking the truth,” remarks Seutin. “But she accomplished this very gracefully. She expressed something meaningful and then sing a beautiful song.” She aimed to take the similar method in this work. “We see dancing and listen to beautiful songs, an element of enjoyment, but mixed with strong messages and instances that hit. That’s what I admire about Miriam. Because if you are shouting too much, people may ignore. They back away. Yet she achieved it in a manner that you would receive it, and hear it, but still be blessed by her talent.”

• The performance is at London, the dates