Miriam Makeba aka Mama Afrika dead at the age of 76

Miriam Makeba aka “Mama Afrika” died early this morning after performing at a concert in Italy at the age of 76.

Mama Afrika was an African singer whose music was banned by apartheid authorities she struggled against.  In 1960 South African authorities revoked her passport and refused to allow her to return to Africa after traveling abroad causing her to miss her mother’s funeral.

For 31 years, Mama Afrika lived in exile and in 1976 after she spoke out against apartheid at the United Nations, South Africa’s state broadcasters banned her music.  That was also the same year of the Soweto uprising that accelerated the demands of the black majority for democratic change.

In 1990, Mama Afrika told the Associated Press she couldn’t understand why she couldn’t go home, she said, “I never committed any crime”.

In an interview this morning, Nelson Mandela said, “The death of our beloved Miriam has saddened us and our nation.  Her haunting melodies gave voice to the pain of exile and dislocation which she felt for 31 long years….. She was the South Africa’s first lady of song and so richly deserved the title Mama Afrika.  She was a mother to our struggle and to the young nation of ours.”