Miriam Makeba (1932-2008) - Wimoweh

Miriam Makeba (4 March 1932 - 10 November 2008) was a South African singer and civil rights activist. The Grammy Award winning artist is often referred to as Mama Afrika.

Her voice stirred hopes of freedom among millions in her country with music that was banned by the apartheid authorities she struggled against

"I am not a political singer," she said. "I dont know what the word means. People think I consciously decided to tell the world what was happening in South Africa. No! 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."

Many people do not realize that Mama Afrika was not only banned in Apartheid South Africa, but she was black balled in the United States due to her marriage to Trinidadian born, Black Activist, Stokely Carmichael. "It was not a ban from the government; it was a cancellation by people who felt I should not be with Stokely because he was a rebel to them," Ms. Makeba said. I didnt care about that. He was somebody I loved, who loved me, and it was my life." The couple then moved to Guinea. Makeba served as a Guinean delegate to the United Nations, for which she won the Dag Hammarskjöld Peace Prize in 1986.


She was married four times, but to the day she died, she never gave up on love.

Thank you, Miriam Makeba

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Category:

Music

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• Miriam
• Makeba
• Wimoweh
• South
• Mama
• Afrika
• Africa
• World
• Music

[msayofemi1]

@synapsecracklepop its mbube not wimoweh fyi XD

[synapsecracklepop]

@msayofemi1 Mbube is the original name, and the song, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," is alternatively, and in the West, more popularly known as "Wimoweh."

I can't make the Click Sound either. It don't make me bad.

[stephenburnett88]

This is truly beautiful ;-) Thankyou

[EagleForDemocracy]

Sing Mama Africa.....Sing to the Angels......RIP Mama...We were blessed with your presence....your voice will be eternal

[librarybob1958]

Makeba, the Chad Mitchell Trio, and the Belafonte Folk Singers make a potent combination in the 1960 recording that introduced Solomon Linda's classic song to the west, almost a year before the Tokens.