Mar 04, 2013
Miriam Makeba's 81st Birthday
This Doodle’s Key Themes
South African singer and civil rights activist Miriam Makeba was born in 1932 in Johannesburg. Unfortunately, her early life was marred by tragedy and hardship; when she was just 18 days old, her mother was sent to prison and Makeba went with her. Makeba later lived with her grandmother in Pretoria and joined her church and school choirs. In the 1950s, she moved to Sophiatown, where music filled the streets — big band, African jazz, and anything else that moved people to sing. Thanks to her musical talent, by the end of the decade, she had made a name for herself throughout the country.
Makeba performed with a few different bands and embarked on an acting career. In 1959, she appeared in a documentary that angered the South African authorities; as a result, her passport was revoked. The advent of apartheid led her to leave South Africa. She found success in the United States however, winning a Grammy Award in 1965 and joining Paul Simon on his Graceland tour in the 1980s. She used her newfound fame to draw attention to the suffering and oppression of South Africa under apartheid.
Makeba continued making music and fought for humanitarian causes throughout the rest of her life. Upon her passing, Nelson Mandela said, "Her haunting melodies gave voice to the pain of exile and dislocation which she felt for 31 long years. At the same time, her music inspired a powerful sense of hope in all of us."
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