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“When you speak about the legendary singer in South Africa, it’s like speaking about a queen,” states the choreographer. Called Mama Africa, Makeba additionally spent time in New York with jazz greats like prominent artists. Starting as a teenager sent to work to provide for her relatives in the city, she eventually served as an envoy for Ghana, then the country’s official delegate to the UN. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was married to a Black Panther. Her rich story and impact inspire Seutin’s new production, Mimi’s Shebeen, set for its UK premiere.

A Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

The show merges movement, live music, and oral storytelling in a theatrical piece that isn’t a straightforward biodrama but draws on Makeba’s history, especially her story of exile: after moving to New York in the year, she was barred from her homeland for three decades due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was banned from the US after marrying activist her spouse. The show resembles a ritual of remembrance, a deconstructed funeral – some praise, some festivity, some challenge – with the fabulous vocalist the performer at the centre bringing Makeba’s songs to dynamic existence.

Power and poise … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the country, a informal gathering spot is an under-the-radar gathering place for home-brewed liquor and animated discussions, often managed by a host. Makeba’s mother Christina was a shebeen queen who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was 18 days old. Incapable of covering the penalty, she was incarcerated for six months, bringing her baby with her, which is how her eventful life began – just one of the things Seutin learned when researching Makeba’s life. “So many stories!” says she, when they met in Brussels after a show. Her parent is Belgian and she mainly grew up there before relocating to learn and labor in the UK, where she established her dance group Vocab Dance. Her South African mother would perform Makeba’s songs, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when Seutin was a youngster, and dance to them in the living room.

Melodies of liberation … the artist sings at the venue in 1988.

A decade ago, Seutin’s mother had cancer and was in hospital in the city. “I stopped working for a quarter to look after her and she was always asking for the singer. She was so happy when we were performing as one,” she remembers. “I had so much time to pass at the hospital so I began investigating.” In addition to learning of her victorious homecoming to the nation in the year, after the freedom of the leader (whom she had met when he was a legal professional in the 1950s), she discovered that she had been a breast cancer survivor in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter the girl passed away in labor in 1985, and that due to her banishment she could not attend her parent’s memorial. “You see people and you look at their achievements and you overlook that they are struggling like anyone else,” says the choreographer.

Development and Themes

These reflections contributed to the creation of the production (first staged in Brussels in the year). Thankfully, her parent’s therapy was effective, but the idea for the piece was to honor “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, she highlights threads of Makeba’s biography like memories, and nods more broadly to the theme of uprooting and loss nowadays. While it’s not overt in the performance, Seutin 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 welcome this newcomer.”

Melodies of banishment … musicians in the show.

In the show, rather than being inebriated by the venue’s local drink, the skilled performers appear possessed by rhythm, in synthesis with the musicians on the platform. Her choreography incorporates various forms of dance she has absorbed over the time, 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.

Seutin was taken aback to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the cast didn’t already know about the artist. (She died in 2008 after having a cardiac event on the platform in Italy.) Why should new audiences learn about Mama Africa? “I think she would motivate young people to stand for what they are, speaking the truth,” remarks the choreographer. “However she did it very elegantly. She expressed something poignant and then sing a beautiful song.” She aimed to take the same approach in this work. “Audiences observe dancing and hear melodies, an element of entertainment, but mixed with strong messages and instances that hit. This is what I respect about her. Because if you are shouting too much, people may ignore. They retreat. But she achieved it in a way that you would receive it, and understand it, but still be blessed by her ability.”

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