Miriam Makeba
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Rome - South African singer Miriam Makeba has died aged 76 after
being taken ill following a concert near the southern Italian
town of Caserta, Ansa news agency reported on Monday.
Makeba was the legendary voice of the African continent, who
became a symbol of the fight against apartheid in her home
country.
She died overnight after taking part in a concert for Roberto
Saviano, a writer threatened with death by the Mafia, the
Italian agency said.
She sang for half an hour for the young author of Gomorrah at
Castel Volturno near Naples along with other singers and
artistes.
She was taken ill and was quickly taken to a clinic in Castel
Volturno where she died of a heart attack, Ansa said.
Career
Makeba was born in Johannesburg on March 4, 1932. She made an
international farewell tour in 2005.
Born from a Swazi mother and Xhosa father, Makeba captured
international attention as vocalist for the South African group,
The Manhattan Brothers, while they toured the United States in
1959.
The following year, when she wanted to return home to bury her
mother, the apartheid state revoked her citizenship and later
also banned her music. As a result she spent 31 years in exile,
living in the United States and later in Guinea.
She became the first black African woman to receive a Grammy
Award, which she shared with folk singer Harry Belafonte in
1965.
Two years later her fame sky-rocketed with the recording of the
all-time hit Pata Pata (Xhosa for "touch, touch" describing a
township dance) although she unknowingly signed away all
royalties on the song.
She hit an all-time low in 1985 when her only daughter, Bongi,
died aged 36 from complications from a miscarriage. Makeba did
not have money to buy a coffin for Bongi, and buried her alone
barring a handful of journalists covering the funeral.
But she picked herself up again, as she did many times before,
like when her father died at a young age, or when she recovered
from cervix cancer, or her many unhappy relationships, or
unfounded rumours of alcoholism, according to her biography.
She returned to South Africa in the 1990s after Mandela was
released from prison but it took a cash-strapped Makeba six
years to find someone in the local recording industry to produce
a record with her.
She since released Homeland which contains a song describing her
joy to be back home after the many years in exile in which she
spoke out against apartheid and testified twice before the
United Nations.
"I kept my culture. I kept the music of my roots. Through my
music I became this voice and image of Africa and the people
without even realising," she said in her biography.
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