Miriam Makeba
Miriam Makeba
Zenzile Miriam Makeba, nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer and civil rights activist...
NationalitySouth African
ProfessionWorld Music Singer
Date of Birth4 March 1932
CityJohannesburg, South Africa
country grateful years
In those years, when I came to the States, people were always asking me why I didn't sing anymore. I'd tell them, 'I sing all around the world-Asia, Africa, Europe-but if you don't sing in the US, then you haven't really made it.' That's why I'll always be grateful to Paul Simon. He allowed me to bring my music back to my friends in this country.
funny country farewell
I have to go and say farewell to all the countries that I have been to, if I can. I am 73 now, it is taxing on me.
country thinking people
And why is our music called world music? I think people are being polite. What they want to say is that it's third world music. Like they use to call us under developed countries, now it has changed to developing countries, it's much more polite.
country real war
The tragedy of civil wars in countries like Angola and Mozambique is that they left many civilians maimed. Poverty is the reason HIV/AIDS spread so rapidly in the African townships and slums. Poverty is the real killer.
country rights color
I ask you and all the leaders of the world: Would you act differently, would you keep silent and do nothing if you were in our place? Would you not resist if you were allowed no rights in your own country because the color of your skin is different to that of the rulers, and if you were punished for even asking for equality? I appeal to you, and through you to all the countries of the world, to do everything you can to stop the coming tragedy. I appeal to you to save the lives of our leaders, to empty the prisons of all those who should never have been there.
orchestra
I was so scared. Such a big orchestra
cannot change goes laws
Which goes to show you, you can make all the laws you want, but you cannot change people's ways. If you must change them, you have to understand that it will take a long time.
affair greedy honor invaders land love nurture ours powerful rich saw
Ours was a marriage, a love affair -- the land would nurture us, and we would honor the land. But the land was too rich and too good. The powerful and greedy invaders saw this at once.
america died holiday missed passed year
The one I missed is Billie Holiday because she died the year before I arrived. I was in America in 1959 and she had passed away before that.
angeles asked band cd contribute group los orleans played ready recently sang songs
I sang in Los Angeles recently and a band that had managed to get out of New Orleans played there. They asked me for one or to songs for a CD being recorded. My group and I said yes, we were ready to contribute in that way, the only way we have.
ant cope crushes greater might native nature racism size south strength weight
I look at an ant and l see myself: a native South African, endowed by nature with a strength much greater than my size so I might cope with the weight of a racism that crushes my spirit.
age life lived
Age iswisdom, if one has lived one's life properly.
song new-york land
In New York I heard A Piece of Ground, written by a white South African, Jeremy Taylor. I modified it a little and sang it myself. That song is very special to me because it deals with the land question in southern Africa. We were dispossessed of our land,
girl home boys
There are a lot of homes for boys, but very few for girls, that is why I chose to do for girls.