Miriam Makeba, R.I.P.

Miriam Makeba, a giant of world music and symbolic voice of the anti-apartheid movement, passed away Sunday night at the age of 76. Makeba was forced into exile from South Africa over 30 years after speaking out against apartheid while on tour in the United States. Makeba remained politically active until the very end of ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

Miriam Makeba, a giant of world music and symbolic voice of the anti-apartheid movement, passed away Sunday night at the age of 76. Makeba was forced into exile from South Africa over 30 years after speaking out against apartheid while on tour in the United States.

Miriam Makeba, a giant of world music and symbolic voice of the anti-apartheid movement, passed away Sunday night at the age of 76. Makeba was forced into exile from South Africa over 30 years after speaking out against apartheid while on tour in the United States.

Makeba remained politically active until the very end of her life. On the night of her death, she performed at a benefit concert in Italy for journalist Roberto Saviano, who has received death threats for writing about the mafia.

Nelson Mandela writes of Makeba:

Her haunting melodies gave voice to the pain of exile and dislocation which she felt for 31 long years. At the same time, her music inspired a powerful sense of hope in all of us. She was South Africa’s first lady of song and so richly deserved the title of Mama Afrika. She was a mother to our struggle and to the young nation of ours."

Via Oliver Wang, here’s Makeba in 1979, performing her biggest international hit. The young girl at the end of the clip is her granddaughter:

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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