Word: makeba
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Past Miriam Makeba Street, between the empty lots and beat-up Edwardian piles that mark the edge of what, before crime hollowed out downtown Johannesburg, were some of the most imposing city blocks on the continent, stands an intriguing vision of Africa. Here, the Yung Chen Noodle Den and the Sui Hing Hong Wholesale and Chinese Gift Company rub shoulders with the Gold Reef Restaurant. "Ah, Africa," sighs William Lai, 60, as he gazes out across the great plains of parking lots that define Johannesburg's Chinatown. "Where I was born. Where my children were born. Home...
...that's why it was only later on, when I was traveling more around the world, that I became more aware of all the diversity in South Africa. I grew up listening to, because of my parents, Hugh Masekela and Abdullah Ibrahim, knowing about Miriam Makeba. But only when I got out of high school did I start to get into the more contemporary people, people like Tananas, which was an integrated band, and Juluka, which was an integrated band. And then, from them, I became aware of the Soweto String Quartet...
...Makeba's new CD, Homeland (Putumayo), her first album of new material in more than six years, is a musical love letter to African culture (one song is titled Africa Is Where My Heart Lies). From the beginning of her career, she has been fearless in singing and speaking about Africa. In 1960, because of her outspokenness about political repression in South Africa, the apartheid regime invalidated her passport. "When I came out [to the U.S.], I wasn't even aware that people would think I was a politician or I was talking or singing politics," says Makeba...
...touring with Paul Simon. Her personal life was sometimes tumultuous--she's been married to South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela and American black-power activist Stokely Carmichael. Now single, she laughs and says she is "too old to marry again." In 1990, after Nelson Mandela's release from prison, Makeba returned to South Africa. On Homeland Makeba's music sounds timeless and tireless. The succulent African pop songs are in English and in Xhosa (Makeba's native tongue). The first track, Masakhane, is a stirring call "for unity and hope in the postapartheid era." Another track, Lindelani, is a gentle...
...this record and in person, Makeba radiates an empathy that is at once regal and motherly. She is concerned but hopeful about her country's future. "I think our people should be commended," she says. "After inheriting all the problems our government inherited from the apartheid era, they tried their best. Change is slow because there's no money. But the very fact that even after all that suffering people are trying to live together and move forward is impressive." Impressive too that after three decades of exile and half a decade of layoff, Makeba could make music as gracious...