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“If you talk about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s similar to talking about a sovereign,” explains Alesandra Seutin. Known as the Empress of African Song, Makeba additionally spent time in New York with jazz greats like prominent artists. Beginning as a teenager dispatched to labor to provide for her relatives in the city, she eventually became a diplomat for the nation, then Guinea’s official delegate to the United Nations. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was married to a Black Panther. Her rich life and legacy motivate Seutin’s latest work, the performance, scheduled for its British debut.

The Fusion of Movement, Sound, and Narration

Mimi’s Shebeen combines movement, live music, and oral storytelling in a stage work that isn’t a simple biography but utilizes her past, especially her story of exile: after relocating to the city 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 is like a ritual of remembrance, a reimagined memorial – some praise, part celebration, some challenge – with the fabulous South African singer Tutu Puoane at the centre bringing her music to dynamic existence.

Power and poise … the production.

In South Africa, a shebeen is an under-the-radar venue for locally made drinks and lively conversation, often managed by a host. Her parent Christina was a proprietress who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Makeba was a newborn. Incapable of covering the fine, she was incarcerated for six months, taking her infant with her, which is how her remarkable journey started – just one of the details the choreographer discovered when studying her story. “Numerous tales!” exclaims she, when we meet in Brussels after a performance. Her parent is Belgian and she was raised there before moving to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she established her company the ensemble. Her parent would perform Makeba’s songs, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when she was a youngster, and dance to them in the home.

Melodies of liberation … Miriam Makeba sings at Wembley Stadium in 1988.

A ten years back, her parent had the illness and was in hospital in the city. “I paused my career for three months to look after her and she was always asking for the singer. It delighted her when we were singing together,” Seutin recalls. “There was ample time to pass at the facility so I started researching.” In addition to reading about her victorious homecoming to the nation in the year, after the release of the leader (whom she had met when he was a legal professional in the era), she discovered that she had been a breast cancer survivor in her youth, that Makeba’s daughter Bongi died in childbirth in the year, and that because of her banishment she hadn’t been able to attend her own mother’s funeral. “Observing individuals and you focus on their achievements and you forget that they are struggling like anyone else,” states Seutin.

Development and Concepts

All these thoughts went into the making of the production (first staged in Brussels in 2023). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was successful, but the concept for the piece was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, she pulls out elements of her life story like flashbacks, and nods more generally to the idea of uprooting and loss today. While it’s not explicit in the performance, she had in mind a second protagonist, a contemporary version who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these other selves of personas linked with the icon to welcome this young migrant.”

Melodies of banishment … musicians in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the show, rather than being inebriated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the skilled dancers appear taken over by rhythm, in synthesis with the musicians on the platform. Her choreography incorporates multiple styles of movement she has absorbed over the years, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the international cast’ own vocabularies, including urban dances like the form.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

Seutin was taken aback to find that some of the newer, international in the cast were unaware about the artist. (Makeba died in the year after having a cardiac event on the platform in the country.) Why should younger generations discover the legend? “I think she would inspire the youth to advocate what they are, expressing honesty,” remarks Seutin. “However she accomplished this very elegantly. She expressed something poignant and then sing a beautiful song.” She wanted to take the similar method in this work. “Audiences observe dancing and hear 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 being overly loud, people won’t listen. They back away. But she did it in a way that you would receive it, and hear it, but still be graced by her ability.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is showing in London, 22-24 October