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“Discussing about the legendary singer in the nation, it’s like speaking about a sovereign,” remarks Alesandra Seutin. Referred to as Mama Africa, the iconic artist also spent time in New York with renowned musicians like prominent artists. Starting as a teenager dispatched to labor to provide for her relatives in Johannesburg, she later became a diplomat for Ghana, then the country’s official delegate to the United Nations. An vocal campaigner against segregation, she was the wife to a Black Panther. This rich story and impact motivate Seutin’s new production, the performance, set for its UK premiere.

The Fusion of Movement, Sound, and Narration

The show combines movement, live music, and spoken word in a stage work that is not a simple biography but utilizes Makeba’s history, particularly her experience of banishment: after relocating to the city in the year, she was prohibited from South Africa for three decades due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was banned from the US after marrying activist her spouse. The show resembles a ceremonial tribute, a deconstructed funeral – some praise, part celebration, part provocation – with a fabulous vocalist Tutu Puoane at the centre bringing her music to dynamic existence.

Power and poise … the production.

In South Africa, a informal gathering spot is an unofficial gathering place for home-brewed liquor and lively conversation, often presided over by a host. Her parent Christina was a shebeen queen who was arrested for illegally brewing alcohol when Makeba was 18 days old. Unable to pay the fine, Christina went to prison for half a year, taking her infant with her, which is how her remarkable journey began – just one of the details the choreographer discovered when studying Makeba’s life. “Numerous tales!” exclaims Seutin, when we meet in the city after a performance. Her father is from Belgium and she mainly grew up there before moving to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she established her company Vocab Dance. Her South African mother would sing Makeba’s songs, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a child, and dance to them in the living room.

Melodies of liberation … the artist performs at Wembley Stadium in 1988.

A decade ago, Seutin’s mother had cancer and was in medical care in London. “I stopped working for a quarter to look after her and she was always asking for the singer. She was so happy when we were performing as one,” she recalls. “There was ample time to kill at the facility so I started researching.” In addition to learning of Makeba’s triumphant return to the nation in the year, after the freedom of the leader (whom she had encountered when he was a legal professional in the 1950s), Seutin discovered that she had been a breast cancer survivor in her youth, that her child Bongi passed away in childbirth in 1985, and that because of her banishment she hadn’t been able to be present at her parent’s memorial. “Observing individuals and you focus on their success and you overlook that they are struggling like anyone else,” says Seutin.

Creation and Themes

These reflections went into the creation of the show (first staged in Brussels in the year). Fortunately, her parent’s treatment was successful, but the idea for the work was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, she highlights threads of Makeba’s biography like memories, and references more broadly to the theme of uprooting and loss today. While it’s not explicit in the show, Seutin had in mind a second protagonist, a modern-day Miriam who is a migrant. “And we gather as these other selves of characters connected to the icon to greet this young migrant.”

Melodies of banishment … musicians in the show.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the shebeen’s local drink, the skilled performers appear taken over by rhythm, in synthesis with the musicians on stage. Seutin’s dance composition incorporates multiple styles of movement she has learned over the time, including from African nations, plus the global performers’ own vocabularies, including urban dances like the form.

A celebration of resilience … the creator.

She was taken aback to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the group were unaware about the artist. (Makeba died in 2008 after having a heart attack on stage in Italy.) Why should younger generations discover Mama Africa? “I think she would inspire young people to advocate what they believe in, speaking the truth,” remarks Seutin. “But she accomplished this very elegantly. She expressed something meaningful and then sing a lovely melody.” She wanted to take the similar method in this production. “We see dancing and hear beautiful songs, an aspect of enjoyment, but intertwined with powerful ideas and moments that hit. That’s what I respect about Miriam. Because if you are shouting too much, people won’t listen. They retreat. But she achieved it in a manner that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be graced by her ability.”

• The performance is showing in London, 22-24 October