Miriam Makeba Research Paper

Miriam Makeba was born as Zenzile Miriam Makeba in 1932 in segregated Prospect Township, near Johannesburg, South Africa, to a Swazi mother who was a traditional healer (isangoma) and a Xhosa father, who was a teacher that died when Makeba was a child (Allen, 2011). Makeba did not have an easy childhood and her life would continue to be filed with difficulties and obstacles she would need to overcome. For instance, when Makeba was still an infant, her mother, along with Makeba, were arrested for six months due to her mother selling umqombothi, home-brewed beer, in order to help her income, where it was illegal to drink alcohol if one was a South African black (Feldstein, 2014). Makeba was able to practice her talents by singing in the chorus

As explained in the introduction written by Solomon Mbabi-Katana, in Africa, rather than learning about life from fairytales, children learn from music as they deal with immediate and familiar themes, where songs are strongly interwoven with life in Africa (Makeba, 1971). He goes on to further explain that the concept of the folk song is used to recall historical events either by retelling the past or celebrating the virtues and values that arose from the events, for example reminding the people of past victories in order to motivate them in everyday life (Makeba, 1971). As Makeba said herself in an interview in 2008, rather than being directly political as people assumed, she was just singing about her experiences; " I was singing about my life, and in South Africa we always sang about what was happening to us - especially the things that hurt us" (Denselow, 2008). In terms of the specific occurrence of apartheid in South Africa, music was used as a form of expression that raised awareness of the apartheid and the injustices caused by it for the entire world to hear and eventually help in the reform that was eventual (Vershbow, 2010). Makeba began as a singer for small bands until eventually going solo and her fame blossoming to international