Empress Makeba’s close links to Kenya

By Emmanuel Mwendwa

She passed on doing what she was always passionate about and loved best: Singing on stage. Feted overseas and shunned in her homeland for close to three decades, the curtains fell early this week, on globally revered South African composer, singer, and activist Miriam Zenzile Makeba at the prime age of 76.

The diva was widely celebrated and hailed as a consummate performer. Her vocals range was dynamic, consistently endearing her repertoire of songs to a cross section of music lovers — cutting across social, racial and age limits.

According to media reports, Makeba became ill and suffered a heart attack after barely half an hour’s performance. She went down, whilst singing the hit song Pata Pata, at a concert organised to rally support for besieged, Italian writer Roberto Saviano.

In his condolence message, her mentor and number one fan ex-South African president Nelson Mandela said it was fitting "her last moments were spent (while performing) on stage, enriching the hearts and lives of others — and again in support of a good cause."

Makeba made her mark not only as a globetrotting, renowned artiste but also on the back of her fiery reputation as one of the most outspoken opponent of South Africa’s apartheid regime from the 1960s until early 90s.

"Singing was always a natural gift and trait . I realised I could effectively communicate messages through my lyrics, whether making thinly-veiled or stinging political and social-economic commentary", she was quoted saying.

Perhaps ironically, it was her often,turbulent personal life — described variously as "an epic tragedy of injustice, domestic upheaval, exile and torment," which time and again, thrust her into the limelight.

During the mid 60s for instance, the diva was paradoxically regarded as an outlaw in some countries and being feted as a celebrity in numerous others.

Besides Guinea, where she lived for nine years, Kenya was among the nations, which provided sanctuary, and served as a home of sorts.

Honorary citizen

Makeba was reportedly granted honorary Kenyan citizenship by former President Daniel Moi after performing at his inauguration ceremony in 1978.

Kenyatta University is also said to have awarded the diva an honorary degree, in appreciation of her contribution to the growth of Africa’s performing arts.

But owing to busy schedule, she never got to receive the honour and was quoted while on a performance tour in neighbouring Sudan in 2006 saying: "I don’t even know what degree it was".

Makeba’s relationship with Kenya is traced to pre-independence years. Records indicate her maiden visit here was in late 1962, almost two years after her South African citizenship was revoked.

She reportedly joined Mzee Jomo Kenyatta during his political rallies in the run up to Kenya’s declaration of self-rule — dedicating the song Pole Mzee as a special tribute to his incarceration in Kapenguria.

Shortly afterwards, she was the only performer invited by the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie to perform in Addis Ababa at official launch of the Organisation of African Unity — forerunner of the African Union.

A year later, Mzee Kenyatta invited Makeba to sing during his inauguration (Jamuhuri Day) celebrations on December 12, 1963.

"The entire ceremony was hilarious, and a dream come true for Africa’s freedom fighters, watching the British Union Jack brought down and promptly replaced by Kenya’s national flag. I was filled with so much pride," recounted Makeba in a past interview.

Seemingly conflicting reports have arisen about the epic concert, said to have marked a significant turning point for Kenyan music.

Some reports indicate the late Tom Mboya suggested that she sings the classic song Malaika and supposedly ‘taught’ her the lyrics while on backstage, as she waited her turn on the podium.

It is claimed he supposedly mixed up lyrical line pesa za sumbua roho yangu — allegedly a title of another Fadhili songs.

But in an exclusive interview with this writer before passing on in 2001, the late Fadhili William Mdawida narrated intricacies surrounding rise of Malaika onto the global musical realm.

Though the legendary artiste is credited with the song’s first-ever recorded version in 1959, the evergreen hit’s authenticity has for decades, been shrouded in unresolved counter-claims.

Numerous versions of the classic exist globally, but world-acclaimed calypso maestro Harry Belafonte and Makeba were credited with the best recording.

Malaika contest

Makeba brought Belafonte and US singer Sal Davies along to Kenya’s independence concert. The epic showcase was expected to grant the youthful Fadhili, his first professional breakthrough.

Even as he co-ordinated the foursome rehearsals of then little-known song Malaika, the prospects of sharing the same podium with three popular artistes at then City Hall’s newly built Charter ballroom were intoxicating.

Court case

But little did he know the esteem and professional respect he thought was mutual would turn sour. Barely a year after the concert, he learnt Belafonte and Makeba had recorded Malaika without his knowledge and credited Makeba as the original composer.

But assisted by his executive producer, the late Peter Colmore, he filed an appeal in a US court, challenging Belafonte’s claims of Makeba as the composer.

The suit was successful, and to date all recorded versions credit Fadhili as original, undisputed composer and copyright owner — despite numerous other copyright wrangles lodged by musicians from Mombasa and Tanzania.

Curiously, Makeba had severally attributed the song, including her live version featured in the Homeland CD liner notes, to Tanzanian origins. Indisputably, she helped catapult Malaika to the global music landscape and limelight, transforming the originally romantic song into an all time classic, cherished by millions of music lovers across the world.