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“When you speak about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s like speaking about a royal figure,” remarks Alesandra Seutin. Known as the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist additionally spent time in Greenwich Village with jazz greats like prominent artists. Beginning as a young person dispatched to labor to provide for her relatives in the city, she later became a diplomat for Ghana, then the country’s representative to the United Nations. An vocal anti-apartheid activist, she was married to a Black Panther. This remarkable life and legacy motivate Seutin’s latest work, the performance, set for its UK premiere.

A Fusion of Movement, Sound, and Narration

Mimi’s Shebeen merges movement, live music, and spoken word in a stage work that isn’t a straightforward biodrama but draws on her past, particularly her story of exile: after relocating to the city in 1959, she was prohibited from South Africa for 30 years due to her opposition to segregation. Later, she was excluded from the United States after marrying Black Panther activist Stokely Carmichael. The show is like a ritual of remembrance, a deconstructed funeral – some praise, some festivity, some challenge – with the fabulous South African singer the performer leading bringing Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Strength and elegance … the production.

In the country, a informal gathering spot is an unofficial gathering place for home-brewed liquor and lively conversation, usually presided over by a host. Her parent the matriarch was a shebeen queen who was detained for illegally brewing alcohol when Makeba was 18 days old. Unable to pay the penalty, Christina went to prison for half a year, bringing her baby with her, which is how her remarkable journey began – just one of the details the choreographer discovered when studying Makeba’s life. “Numerous tales!” exclaims she, when they met in Brussels after a performance. Her father is Belgian and she mainly grew up there before moving to learn and labor in the UK, where she founded her company the ensemble. Her South African mother would sing her music, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when Seutin was a youngster, and dance to them in the home.

Songs of freedom … the artist performs at the venue in the year.

A decade ago, Seutin’s mother had the illness and was in medical care in London. “I stopped working for a quarter to look after her and she was always requesting Miriam Makeba. She was so happy when we were singing together,” Seutin recalls. “I had so much time to pass at the hospital so I started researching.” As well as reading about Makeba’s triumphant return to the nation in 1990, after the freedom of the leader (whom she had met when he was a young lawyer in the 1950s), she discovered that she had been a someone who overcame illness in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter Bongi died in labor in the year, and that because of her banishment she could not be present at her own mother’s memorial. “Observing individuals and you look at their success and you forget that they are facing challenges like everyone,” states the choreographer.

Creation and Themes

All these thoughts went into the making of the production (premiered in the city in 2023). Thankfully, Seutin’s mother’s therapy was successful, but the concept for the piece was to celebrate “death, life and mourning”. In this context, she highlights elements of Makeba’s biography like flashbacks, and nods more broadly to the idea of uprooting and loss nowadays. While it’s not explicit in the show, she had in mind a second protagonist, a contemporary version who is a traveler. “Together, we assemble as these other selves of characters linked with Miriam Makeba to greet this newcomer.”

Melodies of banishment … musicians in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the venue’s home-brew, the multi-talented dancers appear taken over by rhythm, in synthesis with the players on stage. Seutin’s dance composition includes various forms of movement she has absorbed over the time, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, 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 artist. (Makeba died in 2008 after having a cardiac event on stage in Italy.) Why should new audiences learn about Mama Africa? “I think she would inspire the youth to advocate what they are, expressing honesty,” says Seutin. “However she accomplished this very elegantly. She’d say something meaningful and then perform a lovely melody.” Seutin aimed to adopt the same approach in this production. “Audiences observe movement and listen to melodies, an element of enjoyment, but mixed with strong messages and moments that resonate. That’s what I admire about Miriam. Since if you are being overly loud, people won’t listen. They back away. But she achieved it in a manner that you would receive it, and hear it, but still be graced by her ability.”

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