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“If you talk about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s akin to referring about a royal figure,” remarks Alesandra Seutin. Referred to as the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist also associated in New York with renowned musicians like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Beginning as a young person dispatched to labor to support her family in the city, she eventually became a diplomat for the nation, then Guinea’s official delegate to the UN. An vocal anti-apartheid activist, she was the wife to a activist. Her rich story and impact motivate the choreographer’s new production, Mimi’s Shebeen, set for its British debut.

The Blend of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

The show merges dance, live music, and oral storytelling in a theatrical piece that isn’t a straightforward biodrama but draws on Makeba’s history, particularly her story of exile: after relocating to the city in the year, she was barred from her homeland for three decades due to her opposition to segregation. Later, she was banned from the United States after wedding activist Stokely Carmichael. The performance is like a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – some praise, some festivity, part provocation – with a exceptional vocalist Tutu Puoane at the centre reviving Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Power and poise … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In South Africa, a informal gathering spot is an under-the-radar gathering place for locally made drinks and animated discussions, often managed by a host. Makeba’s mother the matriarch was a proprietress who was arrested for illegally brewing alcohol when Miriam was a newborn. Incapable of covering the penalty, she was incarcerated for half a year, bringing her baby with her, which is how her eventful life started – just one of the things the choreographer learned when studying her story. “Numerous tales!” says Seutin, when they met in the city after a performance. Seutin’s parent is from Belgium and she was raised there before relocating to study and work in the United Kingdom, where she founded her company the ensemble. Her parent would sing her music, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when Seutin was a child, and move along in the living room.

Melodies of liberation … Miriam Makeba performs at Wembley Stadium in the year.

A decade ago, Seutin’s mother had cancer and was in hospital in London. “I paused my career for a quarter to look after her and she was constantly asking for Miriam Makeba. It delighted her when we were singing together,” she remembers. “I had so much time to pass at the facility so I began investigating.” As well as reading about her victorious homecoming to South Africa in the year, after the release of the leader (whom she had met when he was a young lawyer in the 1950s), she found that Makeba had been a breast cancer survivor in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter the girl died in labor in the year, and that due to her banishment she hadn’t been able to attend her own mother’s memorial. “Observing individuals and you focus on their success and you overlook that they are struggling like anyone else,” states Seutin.

Creation and Concepts

All these thoughts went into the making of the show (premiered in the city in 2023). Fortunately, her parent’s therapy was successful, but the concept for the work was to celebrate “death, life and mourning”. In this context, Seutin highlights threads of her life story like memories, and nods more generally to the idea of displacement and dispossession nowadays. While it’s not overt in the performance, Seutin had in mind a additional character, a contemporary version who is a traveler. “Together, we assemble as these alter egos of characters linked with Miriam Makeba to greet this young migrant.”

Rhythms of exile … musicians in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the shebeen’s local drink, the skilled performers appear taken over by beat, in harmony with the musicians on stage. Seutin’s choreography incorporates various forms of dance she has learned over the time, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ own vocabularies, including urban dances like the form.

A celebration of resilience … the creator.

Seutin was taken aback to find that some of the newer, international in the cast were unaware about the singer. (Makeba passed away in 2008 after having a heart attack on the platform in the country.) Why should new audiences learn about Mama Africa? “I think she would motivate young people to stand for what they believe in, speaking the truth,” says Seutin. “However she accomplished this very gracefully. She’d say something meaningful and then sing a lovely melody.” She aimed to adopt the same approach in this work. “Audiences observe movement and hear melodies, an element of entertainment, but intertwined with strong messages and moments that resonate. That’s what I respect about her. Because if you are being overly loud, people won’t listen. They back away. But she achieved it in a way that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be graced by her talent.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is at London, 22-24 October