Word: xosa
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Freely translated, the descriptive word or two in Miriam Makeba's name say: "There is a saying that after dinner, the Xosa kick the dishes...
Married. Miriam Makeba, 32, gaunt South African Xosa tribeswoman whose plaintive folk chants have made her a top U.S. nightclub and recording star; and Hugh Masekela, 25, South African trumpeter and her arranger; she for the third time; in Stamford, Conn...
...Freely translated, the descriptive word or two in Miriam Makeba's name say: "There is a saying that after dinner, the Xosa kick the dishes...
Singer Miriam Makeba, a Xosa tribeswoman (full name: Zensi Miriam Makeba Qgwashu ogu vama yi keti le nenxgoma sittu xa saku aga ba ukutsha sithathe izitsha sizi khalu sivuke ngomso sizi chole ezo zinge knayo zinga bikho nfalo singamalamu singa mangamla nagithi*), is probably too shy to realize it, but her return to Africa would leave a noticeable gap in the U.S. entertainment world, which she entered a mere six weeks ago. Miriam Makeba, 27, has had no formal musical training, and a few years ago she still earned her living as a housemaid in Johannesburg...
When Makeba sings or talks in her native Xosa dialect, its expressive staccato clicks sound like the popping of champagne corks. Though she tries many styles, she never sings the Afrikaaner songs of white South Africa ("When Afrikaaners sing in my language," she says, "then I will sing in theirs"). But whatever mood she assumes, Miriam Makeba maintains a simple and primitive stoicism that sets her sharply apart from the emotional, often artificial style of American Negro singers...