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“Discussing about the legendary singer in South Africa, it’s akin to referring about a sovereign,” remarks the choreographer. Referred to as Mama Africa, the iconic artist also associated in New York with renowned musicians like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Starting as a teenager sent to work to support her family in Johannesburg, she later became a diplomat for Ghana, then Guinea’s representative to the UN. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was the wife to a Black Panther. Her remarkable life and legacy motivate Seutin’s new production, Mimi’s Shebeen, scheduled for its UK premiere.

A Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

Mimi’s Shebeen merges movement, live music, and spoken word in a stage work that isn’t a straightforward biodrama but utilizes her past, especially her story of exile: after moving to New York in the year, Makeba was prohibited from her homeland for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was banned from the United States after marrying Black Panther activist her spouse. The show resembles a ritual of remembrance, a reimagined memorial – part eulogy, some festivity, some challenge – with the fabulous vocalist the performer 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 venue for locally made drinks and lively conversation, often presided over by a shebeen queen. Makeba’s mother Christina was a shebeen queen who was arrested for illegally brewing alcohol when Miriam was 18 days old. Unable to pay the penalty, Christina went to prison for half a year, bringing her baby with her, which is how her remarkable journey began – just one of the details Seutin discovered when studying Makeba’s life. “So many stories!” exclaims she, when we meet in the city after a performance. Her father is from Belgium and she mainly grew up there before moving to study and work in the United Kingdom, where she established her dance group the ensemble. Her South African mother would perform her music, such as the tunes, when she was a child, and move along in the living room.

Melodies of liberation … Miriam Makeba sings at the venue in 1988.

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 take care of her and she was always asking for Miriam Makeba. She was so happy when we were singing together,” she remembers. “There was ample time to kill at the hospital so I started researching.” As well as reading about Makeba’s triumphant return to the nation in the year, after the freedom of Nelson Mandela (whom she had met when he was a legal professional in the era), she found that she had been a breast cancer survivor in her youth, that her child Bongi passed away in labor in 1985, and that because of her banishment she could not be present at her parent’s funeral. “Observing individuals and you look at their success and you forget that they are facing challenges like everyone,” states Seutin.

Development and Themes

All these thoughts went into the creation of the show (premiered in Brussels in 2023). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was successful, but the idea for the piece was to celebrate “death, life and mourning”. Within that, Seutin highlights threads of Makeba’s biography like flashbacks, and references more broadly to the theme of uprooting and loss today. Although it’s not explicit in the performance, Seutin had in mind a second protagonist, a modern-day Miriam who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these other selves of characters linked with Miriam Makeba to greet this young migrant.”

Rhythms of exile … performers in the show.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the venue’s local drink, the multi-talented performers appear possessed by beat, in synthesis with the musicians on the platform. Her choreography incorporates multiple styles of dance she has absorbed over the years, including from African nations, plus the global performers’ personal styles, including street styles like krump.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

Seutin was surprised to find that some of the newer, international in the group didn’t already know about the singer. (Makeba died in 2008 after having a heart attack on the platform in the country.) Why should new audiences discover the legend? “I think she would motivate young people to stand for what they are, speaking the truth,” remarks the choreographer. “However she accomplished this very elegantly. She’d say something meaningful and then perform a lovely melody.” Seutin wanted to adopt the same approach in this work. “Audiences observe dancing and listen to beautiful songs, an aspect of entertainment, but intertwined with powerful ideas and instances that hit. This is what I admire about her. Because if you are being overly loud, people may ignore. 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 the city, 22-24 October