Search - Miriam Makeba :: Guinea Years

Makeba's middle years

Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 11/11/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Like many politically-minded black South Africans, Miriam Makeba spent several decades in exile during the apartheid era. Following the 1961 Sharpville Massacre, where dozens of people -- including several of her relatives -- were shot to death while protesting the repressive "pass laws," Makeba broke her silence on the evils of apartheid rule. The South African government responded by revoking her citizenship and permanently refusing to let her return to her homeland. It was really the government's loss, though: Makeba was a widely regarded international celebrity, and in the face of such bitter treatment by the Afrikaaners, she became one of the most effective public speakers in opposition to apartheid rule. At the end of the decade, Makeba returned to Africa, but instead of her mother country, Makeba moved to Guinea, where she and her husband Stokley Carmichael sought refuge from political persecution in the United States. In Guinea, Makeba hooked up with some of West Africa's greatest musicians, including the likes of Sekou Diabate and Famouro Kouyate. She recorded about thirty songs for the government-sponsored Syliphone label, about half of which are included on this great collection. Makeba sings in English, French, Arabic and numerous African dialects, including Xhosa, Nyanja, Shona and Guinea's local Maninka. The music is expansive and experimental, fusing her South African folk-pop style with soul music the lavish guitar work that the West Africans were perfecting at the time. Many of these tracks have languished out of print for decades, but now world music fans can hear a master musician singing at her peak."