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“When you speak about the legendary singer in South Africa, it’s like speaking about a queen,” explains Alesandra Seutin. Called Mama Africa, Makeba also associated in New York with renowned musicians like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Starting as a young person dispatched to labor to support her family in Johannesburg, she later served as an envoy for Ghana, then Guinea’s representative to the United Nations. An outspoken anti-apartheid activist, she was married to a Black Panther. Her remarkable story and impact inspire Seutin’s latest work, Mimi’s Shebeen, scheduled for its British debut.

The Blend of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

The show merges dance, live music, and spoken word in a stage work that isn’t a straightforward biodrama but utilizes Makeba’s history, especially her story of exile: after relocating to New York in 1959, she was prohibited from her homeland for three decades due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was excluded from the United States after wedding activist her spouse. The show resembles a ritual of remembrance, a deconstructed funeral – some praise, some festivity, some challenge – with a exceptional vocalist the performer at the centre bringing her music to dynamic existence.

Power and poise … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the country, a shebeen is an under-the-radar gathering place for locally made drinks and animated discussions, often presided over by a host. Her parent the matriarch was a proprietress who was detained for producing drinks without permission when Makeba was 18 days old. Incapable of covering the penalty, she went to prison for six months, bringing her infant with her, which is how her remarkable journey started – just one of the things the choreographer learned when studying her story. “Numerous tales!” says Seutin, when we meet in the city after a show. Her father is from Belgium and she was raised there before relocating to study and work in the United Kingdom, where she founded her company the ensemble. Her parent would perform her music, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when Seutin was a youngster, and move along in the home.

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

A ten years back, Seutin’s mother had the illness and was in hospital in the city. “I paused my career for a quarter to look after her and she was always requesting the singer. It delighted her when we were singing together,” she recalls. “There was ample time to kill at the hospital so I started researching.” As well as learning of her victorious homecoming to South Africa in the year, after the release of the leader (whom she had encountered when he was a legal professional in the era), Seutin found that she had been a someone who overcame illness in her youth, that her child Bongi died in labor in the year, and that due to her banishment she hadn’t been able to attend her parent’s memorial. “You see people and you look at their success and you overlook that they are facing challenges like everyone,” states Seutin.

Development and Concepts

All these thoughts went into the creation of the production (premiered in Brussels in the year). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was successful, but the idea for the work was to honor “death, life and mourning”. Within that, she highlights elements of Makeba’s biography like flashbacks, and references more broadly to the theme of uprooting and loss today. While it’s not explicit in the performance, she had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a migrant. “And we gather as these other selves of personas connected to Miriam Makeba to greet this young migrant.”

Rhythms of exile … performers in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the venue’s local drink, the multi-talented dancers appear taken over by rhythm, in synthesis with the musicians on the platform. Seutin’s dance composition incorporates multiple styles of dance she has absorbed over the time, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ personal styles, including urban dances like the form.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

She was surprised to find that some of the newer, international in the group didn’t already know about the artist. (She passed away in the year after having a cardiac event on the platform in Italy.) Why should younger generations learn about Mama Africa? “I think she would inspire the youth to stand for what they are, speaking the truth,” remarks the choreographer. “But she did it very elegantly. She’d say something meaningful and then perform a beautiful song.” Seutin wanted to take the same approach in this production. “We see dancing and hear melodies, an aspect of enjoyment, but intertwined with strong messages and instances that hit. That’s what I respect about her. Since if you are shouting too much, people may ignore. They back away. But she achieved it in a manner that you would receive it, and hear it, but still be graced by her ability.”

• The performance is at London, the dates