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“If you talk about the legendary singer in South Africa, it’s similar to talking about a queen,” states the choreographer. Known as the Empress of African Song, Makeba additionally spent time in New York with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Starting as a teenager sent to work to support her family in the city, she eventually served as an envoy for the nation, then Guinea’s representative to the UN. An vocal campaigner against segregation, she was the wife to a Black Panther. This remarkable life and legacy inspire Seutin’s latest work, Mimi’s Shebeen, scheduled for its British debut.

The Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

Mimi’s Shebeen combines movement, instrumental performances, and oral storytelling in a theatrical piece that isn’t a straightforward biodrama but utilizes Makeba’s history, especially her story of exile: after moving to the city in the year, she was prohibited from her homeland for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was excluded from the US after wedding activist her spouse. The show is like a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – part eulogy, some festivity, some challenge – with a fabulous South African singer Tutu Puoane leading reviving her music to dynamic existence.

Power and poise … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In South Africa, a shebeen is an under-the-radar gathering place for locally made drinks and animated discussions, often presided over by a shebeen queen. Makeba’s mother the matriarch was a shebeen queen who was detained for illegally brewing alcohol when Makeba was 18 days old. Unable to pay the fine, she was incarcerated for six months, taking her baby with her, which is how Miriam’s eventful life began – just one of the details Seutin learned when researching Makeba’s life. “Numerous tales!” exclaims Seutin, when they met in Brussels after a show. Her parent is from Belgium and she mainly grew up there before relocating to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she founded her company Vocab Dance. Her parent would sing Makeba’s songs, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a youngster, and dance to them in the home.

Songs of freedom … the artist performs at the venue in the year.

A ten years back, her parent had cancer and was in medical care in London. “I paused my career for three months to look after her and she was always requesting the singer. She was so happy when we were performing as one,” she recalls. “There was ample time to pass at the hospital so I began investigating.” In addition to learning of her victorious homecoming to South Africa in the year, after the release of the leader (whom she had encountered when he was a young lawyer in the 1950s), she found that she had been a someone who overcame illness in her teens, that her child Bongi passed away in labor in 1985, and that due to her banishment she could not attend her own mother’s funeral. “You see people and you focus on their achievements and you forget that they are struggling like everyone,” states the choreographer.

Development and Themes

These reflections contributed to the creation of the production (premiered in the city in the year). Thankfully, her parent’s treatment was effective, but the idea for the work was to honor “death, life and mourning”. Within that, Seutin pulls out threads of her life story like flashbacks, 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 additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a traveler. “Together, we assemble as these other selves of personas connected to the icon to welcome this newcomer.”

Rhythms of exile … musicians in the show.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the venue’s local drink, the multi-talented dancers appear taken over by beat, in harmony with the musicians on stage. Seutin’s choreography includes multiple styles of movement she has absorbed over the years, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the global performers’ personal styles, including street styles like the form.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

Seutin was taken aback to find that some of the newer, international in the cast were unaware about the singer. (She passed away in 2008 after having a cardiac event on stage in Italy.) Why should younger generations learn about Mama Africa? “In my view she would inspire young people to stand for what they are, speaking the truth,” says Seutin. “But she did it very gracefully. She expressed something poignant and then perform a beautiful song.” She wanted to take the same approach in this production. “We see dancing and listen to beautiful songs, an element of enjoyment, but intertwined with powerful ideas and moments that resonate. That’s what I admire about Miriam. Because if you are being overly loud, people may ignore. They back away. But she achieved it in a way that you would accept it, and understand it, but still be graced by her ability.”

• The performance is showing in the city, the dates