IIIa. Beginnings Leading to Exile: Miriam Makeba

Makeba was born in Johannesburg in 1932 into a family of six children. Immediately, her life suffered the effects of white rule: only 18 days old, she spent the next six months in jail with her mother as punishment for her mother’s illegal alcohol brewing business. Her family was musical. Both her mother and grandmother sung, and her mother taught the children songs and dances. Makeba’s brother taught her both South African and American songs. She describes her childhood community that fueled her love for singing: “We would sit on the wall or the stoep and just watch them dancing and singing. When I heard that bebebe, bebebe, bebebe … I would get so excited. I would rush back from church, take off my good clothes, put on my tatters, go out into the dust, join in the dancing and singing. I loved that” (Makeba 17). However, as her family’s poverty only worsened under the apartheid laws, she left school and began working jobs looking after white children.

Encouraged by friends, she began to sing at local events with the Cuban Brothers, a local male-quartet. She eventually got noticed by the Manhattan Brothers, a well-known Sophiatown group. She joined as their lead singer, and toured the townships. Apartheid prevented them from singing to whites, and they performed separately for blacks and coloureds. They also traveled throughout South Africa and to surrounding African nations, always feeling apartheid’s racial prejudices. Furthermore, the Manhattan Brothers did fundraisers to help blacks in townships and performed for the African National Congress. These political experiences would be influential later, but at the time, Makeba says, “I was just young and excited and didn’t understand what was really going on” (Makeba 35). In 1956, The Manhattan Brothers and Makeba saw their song "Laktushona Ilagna" reach #56 on the Billboard chart.

Her success grew through her membership in two all-woman quartets – the Sunbeams and the Skylarks. In addition, Makeba participated in the African Jazz and Variety, “a touring revue of concerts…[that became] the first musical show in which black people were allowed to perform for white people” (Makeba 42). She also had the lead female role in a jazz opera King Kong that became very successful and eventually played abroad. It was her role in the documentary Come Back Africa that gave Makeba the opportunity to travel overseas to represent the film at the Venice Film Festival. She was able to obtain a passport, and in London, she received an invitation to perform in America. With the help of African-American entertainer Harry Belafonte, she received a visa and arrived in America in 1959.

Though her political involvement was limited while in South Africa, Makeba was exposed to apartheid’s affects through her tours of South Africa. She recalls an incident with the Manhattan Brothers when they were stopped by the police at night and forced to perform (Makeba 34). She also observed the courage of fellow musicians who used their music for political purposes. Dorothy Masuka, who Makeba traveled with for the African Jazz and Variety, sang political songs and taught Makeba “many beautiful songs that [she] sang many times throughout [her] career” (Makeba 42). These influences would be influential in Makeba’s later decision to use music for political protest.