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“When you speak about the legendary singer in South Africa, it’s like speaking about a sovereign,” remarks the choreographer. Called the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist also associated in New York with renowned musicians like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Starting as a young person sent to work to provide for her relatives in Johannesburg, she later became a diplomat for the nation, then the country’s official delegate to the United Nations. An vocal anti-apartheid activist, she was the wife to a activist. This rich story and impact inspire the choreographer’s latest work, the performance, set for its British debut.

A Fusion of Movement, Sound, and Narration

Mimi’s Shebeen combines movement, live music, and spoken word in a stage work that is not a straightforward biodrama but draws on Makeba’s history, particularly her experience of banishment: after relocating to New York in the year, Makeba was prohibited from South Africa for three decades due to her anti-apartheid stance. Subsequently, she was banned from the US after marrying activist her spouse. The performance resembles a ritual of remembrance, a reimagined memorial – some praise, part celebration, some challenge – with the exceptional South African singer 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 venue for locally made drinks and animated discussions, usually managed by a shebeen queen. Makeba’s mother Christina was a shebeen queen who was arrested for illegally brewing alcohol when Miriam was a newborn. Incapable of covering the penalty, Christina went to prison for half a year, taking her infant with her, which is how Miriam’s eventful life started – just one of the details Seutin learned when studying her story. “Numerous tales!” says Seutin, when they met in the city after a show. Her father is from Belgium and she was raised there before moving to study and work in the United Kingdom, where she established her dance group Vocab Dance. Her South African mother would sing Makeba’s songs, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when she was a child, and move along in the living room.

Melodies of liberation … Miriam Makeba performs at the venue in 1988.

A ten years back, Seutin’s mother had cancer and was in medical care in the city. “I paused my career for a quarter to look after her and she was constantly asking for Miriam Makeba. She was so happy when we were performing as one,” she recalls. “There was ample time to pass at the facility so I started researching.” In addition to learning of Makeba’s triumphant return to South Africa in the year, after the release of Nelson Mandela (whom she had met when he was a young lawyer in the era), she discovered that she had been a breast cancer survivor in her youth, that her child the girl passed away in childbirth in the year, and that due to her banishment she hadn’t been able to be present at her parent’s funeral. “You see people and you focus on their achievements and you forget that they are struggling like everyone,” states the choreographer.

Creation and Concepts

All these thoughts contributed to the making of the production (premiered in the city in 2023). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s therapy was successful, but the concept for the work was to honor “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, Seutin highlights threads of Makeba’s biography like flashbacks, and nods more broadly to the theme of uprooting and loss today. Although it’s not overt in the show, Seutin had in mind a second protagonist, a contemporary version who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these alter egos of personas connected to the icon to welcome this newcomer.”

Melodies of banishment … performers in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the multi-talented dancers appear possessed by rhythm, in synthesis with the players on the platform. Her choreography incorporates various forms of dance she has absorbed over the years, including from African nations, plus the global performers’ own vocabularies, including urban dances like the form.

A celebration of resilience … the creator.

She was surprised to find that some of the newer, international in the cast were unaware about the artist. (Makeba died in the year after having a heart attack on the platform in Italy.) Why should younger generations discover Mama Africa? “In my view she would inspire young people to advocate what they believe in, expressing honesty,” remarks the choreographer. “However she did it very elegantly. She’d say something meaningful and then perform a beautiful song.” Seutin aimed to adopt the similar method in this work. “We see movement and hear melodies, an element of entertainment, but mixed with powerful ideas and instances that hit. That’s what I admire about Miriam. Because if you are being overly loud, people won’t listen. They back away. But she did it in a manner that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be blessed by her talent.”

• The performance is showing in the city, the dates