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“If you talk about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s similar to talking about a royal figure,” states Alesandra Seutin. Referred to as the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist additionally associated in New York with jazz greats like prominent artists. Beginning as a teenager sent to work to provide for her relatives in the city, she later became a diplomat for Ghana, then Guinea’s representative to the United Nations. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was married to a activist. Her remarkable story and impact motivate the choreographer’s latest work, the performance, scheduled for its British debut.

The Fusion of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

Mimi’s Shebeen combines movement, instrumental performances, and oral storytelling in a theatrical piece that is not a straightforward biodrama but utilizes Makeba’s history, particularly her experience of banishment: after relocating to New York in 1959, Makeba was barred from her homeland for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Subsequently, she was banned from the US after marrying activist her spouse. The show resembles a ceremonial tribute, a deconstructed funeral – part eulogy, some festivity, part provocation – with a fabulous vocalist Tutu Puoane leading bringing her music to dynamic existence.

Power and poise … the production.

In South Africa, a informal gathering spot is an unofficial venue for locally made drinks and lively conversation, often presided over by a host. Makeba’s mother Christina was a shebeen queen who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Makeba was a newborn. Unable to pay the penalty, Christina was incarcerated for half a year, bringing her baby with her, which is how her eventful life started – just one of the details Seutin discovered when studying her story. “So many stories!” says Seutin, when we meet in Brussels after a performance. Her parent is Belgian and she was raised there before relocating to study and work in the United Kingdom, where she established her dance group the ensemble. Her South African mother would perform Makeba’s songs, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a child, and dance to them in the living room.

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

A decade ago, her parent had the illness and was in hospital in London. “I stopped working for a quarter to take care of her and she was always requesting Miriam Makeba. She was so happy when we were singing together,” she remembers. “I had so much time to pass at the facility 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 young lawyer in the 1950s), Seutin discovered that she had been a someone who overcame illness in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter Bongi passed away in childbirth in the year, and that because of her banishment she hadn’t been able to attend her parent’s funeral. “You see people and you look at their achievements and you overlook that they are facing challenges like anyone else,” says the choreographer.

Creation and Concepts

All these thoughts went into the creation of the show (premiered in the city in 2023). Fortunately, her parent’s treatment was successful, but the idea for the piece was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, Seutin highlights threads of her life story like memories, and references more generally to the idea of displacement and dispossession nowadays. Although it’s not explicit in the show, Seutin had in mind a second protagonist, a contemporary version who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these other selves of characters linked with Miriam Makeba to greet this newcomer.”

Melodies of banishment … performers in the show.

In the show, rather than being inebriated by the venue’s local drink, the multi-talented dancers appear possessed by beat, in synthesis with the players on stage. Her dance composition incorporates various forms of movement she has absorbed over the years, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the global performers’ 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 cast were unaware about the singer. (Makeba died in the year after having a cardiac event on the platform in Italy.) Why should younger generations learn about Mama Africa? “In my view she would motivate young people to advocate what they believe in, expressing honesty,” remarks the choreographer. “However she did it very gracefully. She expressed something poignant and then sing a lovely melody.” She wanted to take the same approach in this production. “Audiences observe movement and listen to beautiful songs, an element of entertainment, but intertwined with strong messages and moments that hit. This is what I admire about her. Since if you are being overly loud, 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 ability.”

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