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“If you talk about the legendary singer in the nation, it’s similar to talking about a sovereign,” states Alesandra Seutin. Known as Mama Africa, the iconic artist additionally spent time in New York with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Starting as a teenager sent to work to provide for her relatives in Johannesburg, she eventually became a diplomat for Ghana, then the country’s representative to the UN. An vocal anti-apartheid activist, she was the wife to a activist. This rich story and impact inspire Seutin’s new production, Mimi’s Shebeen, set for its UK premiere.

A Fusion of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

Mimi’s Shebeen combines dance, live music, and oral storytelling in a stage work that isn’t a simple biography but draws on Makeba’s history, particularly her story of exile: after relocating to New York in 1959, she was barred from South Africa for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was excluded from the US after wedding Black Panther activist Stokely Carmichael. The show resembles a ritual of remembrance, a deconstructed funeral – some praise, some festivity, part provocation – with the exceptional South African singer the performer at the centre bringing Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Power and poise … the production.

In the country, a shebeen is an unofficial venue for locally made drinks and lively conversation, often presided over by a host. Makeba’s mother Christina was a shebeen queen who was arrested for producing drinks without permission when Miriam was 18 days old. Unable to pay the fine, she went to prison for half a year, bringing her baby with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey started – just one of the details Seutin discovered when researching Makeba’s life. “So many stories!” exclaims Seutin, when they met in Brussels after a performance. Her father is Belgian and she was raised there before moving to learn and labor in the UK, where she established 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 living room.

Songs of freedom … the artist performs at the venue in 1988.

A decade ago, Seutin’s mother had cancer and was in medical care in the city. “I paused my career for a quarter to take care of her and she was constantly asking for the singer. She was so happy when we were singing together,” Seutin remembers. “I had so much time to pass at the hospital so I started researching.” As well as learning of Makeba’s triumphant return to South Africa in 1990, after the freedom of the leader (whom she had met when he was a legal professional in the 1950s), she discovered that Makeba had been a breast cancer survivor in her youth, that Makeba’s daughter Bongi died in labor in 1985, and that because of her banishment she could not be present at her parent’s memorial. “Observing individuals and you focus on their achievements and you forget that they are facing challenges like anyone else,” states the choreographer.

Development and Concepts

All these thoughts contributed to the making of the production (first staged in Brussels in 2023). Thankfully, her parent’s treatment was successful, but the idea for the work was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, she highlights threads of Makeba’s biography like flashbacks, and nods more generally to the theme of uprooting and loss nowadays. While it’s not explicit in the performance, she had in mind a second protagonist, a modern-day Miriam who is a migrant. “And we gather as these alter egos of personas linked with the icon to welcome this young migrant.”

Melodies of banishment … performers in the show.

In the performance, rather than being inebriated by the venue’s home-brew, the multi-talented performers appear taken over by beat, in harmony with the players on stage. Her dance composition incorporates multiple styles of movement she has absorbed over the time, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ own vocabularies, including urban dances like the form.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

She was surprised to find that some of the newer, international in the group didn’t already know about the singer. (She died in the year after having a cardiac event on stage in the country.) Why should younger generations discover the legend? “I think she would inspire young people to stand for what they are, speaking the truth,” remarks the choreographer. “But she accomplished this very elegantly. She expressed something poignant and then perform a beautiful song.” She wanted to take the similar method in this work. “Audiences observe movement and hear beautiful songs, an aspect of enjoyment, but mixed with strong messages and moments that hit. That’s what I admire about Miriam. Since if you are shouting too much, people won’t listen. They retreat. But she achieved it in a manner that you would receive it, and understand it, but still be graced by her ability.”

• The performance is at London, the dates