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“If you talk about the legendary singer in South Africa, it’s akin to referring about a queen,” explains Alesandra Seutin. Known as the Empress of African Song, Makeba also spent time 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 eventually served as an envoy for the nation, then the country’s representative to the UN. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was married to a Black Panther. Her remarkable story and impact inspire Seutin’s new production, Mimi’s Shebeen, set for its British debut.

The Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

The show combines dance, instrumental performances, and oral storytelling in a stage work that isn’t a straightforward biodrama but utilizes her past, particularly her story of exile: after moving to New York in 1959, she was barred from South Africa for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was banned from the US after wedding Black Panther activist her spouse. The show is like a ritual of remembrance, a deconstructed funeral – part eulogy, part celebration, some challenge – with the fabulous vocalist the performer leading bringing Makeba’s songs to dynamic existence.

Strength and elegance … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the country, a informal gathering spot is an unofficial gathering place for home-brewed liquor and lively conversation, usually managed by a shebeen queen. Her parent Christina was a shebeen queen who was detained for illegally brewing alcohol when Makeba was a newborn. Unable to pay the penalty, Christina was incarcerated for half a year, taking her baby with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey began – just one of the things the choreographer learned when studying Makeba’s life. “So many stories!” exclaims Seutin, 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 UK, where she founded her company the ensemble. Her parent would perform her music, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a child, and dance to them in the living room.

Songs of freedom … Miriam Makeba sings at Wembley Stadium in 1988.

A decade ago, Seutin’s mother had the illness and was in medical care 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 performing as one,” Seutin remembers. “I had so much time to pass at the hospital 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 encountered when he was a legal professional in the 1950s), she found that she had been a someone who overcame illness in her teens, that her child the girl passed away in childbirth in the year, and that because of her banishment she could not be present at her own mother’s funeral. “Observing individuals and you focus on their achievements and you overlook that they are struggling like everyone,” says the choreographer.

Creation and Themes

These reflections contributed to the creation of the production (premiered in the city in the year). Thankfully, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was effective, but the idea for the piece was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, Seutin pulls out threads of Makeba’s biography like flashbacks, and references more generally to the theme of uprooting and loss nowadays. While it’s not overt in the performance, she had in mind a second protagonist, a contemporary version who is a traveler. “Together, we assemble as these alter egos of personas linked with Miriam Makeba to greet this young migrant.”

Rhythms of exile … musicians in the show.

In the performance, rather than being inebriated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the skilled performers appear possessed by rhythm, in synthesis with the players on stage. Her choreography includes multiple styles of movement she has absorbed over the time, including from African nations, plus the global performers’ personal styles, including street styles like krump.

Honoring strength … the creator.

She was surprised to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the cast were unaware about the singer. (Makeba 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 young people to stand for 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 adopt the same approach in this work. “We see dancing and hear beautiful songs, an element of enjoyment, but mixed with powerful ideas and moments that resonate. This is what I respect about her. Since if you are being overly loud, people won’t listen. They retreat. But she achieved it in a manner that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be graced by her talent.”

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