MAKING NEWS
‘I want to sail on and on’
"AT 73, I am closer to Avalon (Cemetery) than ever before. But no, I don’t want to go to Avalon. When my time comes, I want my ashes scattered in the Indian Ocean so I can sail on and on."
That’s how songbird Miriam Makeba greeted the audience on Monday night for her final public performance at the Johannesburg Civic Theatre.
She was accompanied by the Miagi orchestra, her first appearance with an orchestra in South Africa.
But she was quick to contradict reports that the Johannesburg show was her last performance — it was the first in a series of "goodbye" concerts.
Over the next 14 months she will "say goodbye to all the people of the world who made me who I am".
Graeme Gilfillan, her aide, later explained: "After her Cape Town appearance (on September 29), she will be off to Los Angeles, then Cuba. Other countries on her itinerary are Venezuela and Brazil. She will also tour Europe."
Retirement has been on her mind for some time now.
Nomsa Mwamuka, co-author of Makeba: The Miriam Makeba Story, told me: "The rigours of age are definitely taking their toll. Preparations for the current tour took a lot out of her. She spent long days practising with the orchestra, but what frustrated her was that there was not enough time for the musicians to learn the songs she would have liked to do on the tour."
Here one thinks of some all-time favourites such as Promise, Mama Ndiyalila and West Wind, which endeared her to the revolutionaries of the world with its anti-apartheid lyrics, "unify us, don’t divide us". And, of course, Qongqothwane, the so-called Click Song which carved her a name on the international stage. Not even Pata Pata was on the repertoire she did with the orchestra.
Mwamuka says Makeba would like to sit back, relax and enjoy her great-grandchildren. She also wants to concentrate more on her "government duties". She was appointed the country’s Goodwill Ambassador by President Mbeki in 2001. And she has started the Miriam Makeba Rehabilitation Centre for Girls to help abused girls.
But age and a need to spend more time at home are up against economics. In her book, Makeba writes: "In most cases it was true that we knew nothing about royalties and our society made no provision for our support after our sell-by date. There were no pensions for artistes. That’s why I was still touring and singing at 70 and that is why I always said: ‘Retire? I will sing till the day I die.’ What becomes of an ageing artiste? Someone like Frank Sinatra must have done his ‘last tour’ about a thousand times?"
Money has not always been an issue — she has made and lost lots of it. Her riches helped her to sustain some of the five husbands she married at different stages of her life.
When her career took off in the US, where she arrived in 1959, she was helped by the likes of Hugh Masekela, Caiphus Semenya and Jonas Gwangwa to set up her music publishing company, putting her in control of her own royalties.
In turn, she helped Masekela and Gwangwa, who arrived in America after she had already started making waves there, to enrol at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music.
Her relationship with Masekela blossomed into a romance that resulted in marriage.
In 1965 she won a Grammy for an album called An Evening with Harry Belafonte and Miriam Makeba, making her the first South African to receive this honour.
But she did not have much time to celebrate the award as her marriage to Masekela came to an end after a brief two years. In his own book, Still Grazing, Masekela says of her: "Sweet as she can be, when Miriam is pissed off, the most advisable thing is to simply run for the hills and not come back until the storm has subsided and she is humming again, telling her funny stories and singing her happy songs."
He also talks about infidelity. But that’s another story.
Perhaps her saddest marriage was also the longest. In 1968, while in the Bahamas, she announced her engagement to Stokely Carmichael. On hearing this, the prime minister hounded her off the island.
Carmichael, as the leader of the revolutionary Black Panther Party for Self-defence, which had coined the phrase "black power" and vowed to take up arms against the American government, was persona non grata in the US and among its allies.
Back in the US, Makeba and Carmichael got married, but a hellish existence began. They suspected that their apartment was bugged. Wherever they went, they were accompanied by two uninvited CIA cars — one at the front and one at the back.
Concerts booked in advance were cancelled by the organisers.
Newspapers which had been writing endearingly about this exotic click-click girl from Africa became scathing about her association with the man who had openly sat at a podium in Cuba while Fidel Castro attacked the US in a speech. Suddenly, revenue officials were investigating her tax status.
Her career was clearly in danger, so she decided to pack up and go. The couple went to Guinea, where she was warmly welcomed by that country’s president, Sekou Toure. She and Carmichael made Guinea their home.
The marriage lasted 10 years — it fell apart when Carmichael was found to be having an affair with a local woman.
"I never wanted my marriages to end. They just did. It hurt every time. I remember one time being at an airport with a friend of mine. She spotted Miles Davis, and took a photograph of him. Miles was so furious that she had not asked him first.
"When he turned around and saw me, he relaxed. ‘Hey Makeba, how are you doing? Where’s that husband of yours?’ I said: ‘Which one?’ He said: ‘How many you got?’ He laughed. I laughed. But I felt like a fool. He said: ‘The one with the trumpet?’ (Masekela). I said: ‘He’s fine. But he ain’t my husband no more.’
She always managed to rise from the ashes of a broken marriage and take solace in her success on the stage.
Apart from her musical success, she had become the face of the anti-apartheid struggle — a reputation which she consolidated when she addressed the United Nations General Assembly in 1963 on the issue.
Mwamuka says: "She is a strong woman, albeit very sensitive. I think the death of her daughter Bongi was one loss from which she never recovered."
Bongi was her only child, from her very first marriage to one James "Gooli" Kubayi before she became a famous musician. Bongi died in 1985, having lost her unborn baby.
One of the first things Makeba did when she came home in 1990 was to visit her mother’s grave in Soweto.
Her first show in South Africa, at the Standard Bank Arena in Johannesburg, was in 1992. To her relief, it was a great success. She had thought people would not remember her.
But there were trying times ahead. The euphoria of having her back home died down.
"From the time I got home it took me almost six years before I could release my next album in South Africa. It took me six years to find someone in the recording industry who had faith enough to work with me. I think people considered me old and outdated. But in the year 2000 I released Homeland."
But something else more personal was to shatter her equilibrium. This involved her former husband Hugh Masekela, with whom she continued to perform after their return from exile.
She says in her book: "Shortly after he had started his programme to help musicians and artistes with alcohol and drug addictions, I found out that he had sent a letter, an open fax to our former president Mandela’s office which he co-signed with filmmaker Anant Singh. I was on tour when Tata called and said he wanted to see me. I got back home and made the appointment to see Tata. He spoke to me about the fax — the letter from Hugh and Anant that said Miriam is an alcoholic and you must talk to her about joining the programme.
"This was one of the most humiliating conversations of my life. I was so hurt . . . Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba have shared a life. We even share a street corner in the Housing Association of East London — Hugh Masekela Drive crosses Miriam Makeba Crescent!"
Anyway, Makeba now thinks all this is behind her. Masekela professes his undying love for her in his book.
For her part, Makeba these days speaks a lot about forgiveness and finding internal peace.
And, inevitably, about how she, the musical pilgrim that she is, is ready to sail on — Sunday Times, South Africa.
THE REVIEW
This beautiful hardcover, coffee-table book chronicles Makeba’s entire life — from her early days growing up on the Rand and performing with the Manhattan Brothers — to her departure from South Africa. It also details Miriam’s life in America and friendship with Harry Belafonte, her performance for President John F Kennedy alongside Marilyn Monroe, her marriage to Stokely Carmichael and her life in Conakry, Guinea.
Finally we read about her stay in Europe, the release of Nelson Mandela, Miriam’s homecoming and her ultimate decision to stay and make a life in this country.
Black and white photographs of Miriam touring and performing, of her fashions and political colleagues, bring this book to life. An index, glossary, discography and complete list of original compositions round off his most fascinating and comprehensive work.
Miriam Makeba is currently President Thabo Mbeki’s Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations. Recent awards include the Gold Class Commandeur de la Légion d’honneur from French President, Jacques Chirac
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