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“When you speak about the legendary singer in the nation, it’s like speaking about a sovereign,” explains Alesandra Seutin. Known as the Empress of African Song, Makeba also associated in Greenwich Village with renowned musicians like prominent artists. Beginning as a young person sent to work to support her family in Johannesburg, she eventually served as an envoy for Ghana, then Guinea’s official delegate to the UN. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was the wife to a Black Panther. Her remarkable life and legacy inspire the choreographer’s latest work, the performance, scheduled for its UK premiere.

The Fusion of Movement, Sound, and Narration

Mimi’s Shebeen combines dance, instrumental performances, and spoken word in a theatrical piece that is not a simple biography but draws on her past, especially her story of exile: after moving to New York in 1959, she was barred from her homeland for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Subsequently, she was excluded from the United States after marrying activist her spouse. The performance is like a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – some praise, some festivity, some challenge – with the exceptional South African singer the performer at the centre reviving Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Power and poise … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In South Africa, a informal gathering spot is an unofficial gathering place for locally made drinks and lively conversation, often presided over by a host. Makeba’s mother Christina was a shebeen queen who was arrested for illegally brewing alcohol when Miriam was 18 days old. Unable to pay the penalty, she went to prison for half a year, taking her infant with her, which is how her eventful life started – just one of the details Seutin learned when researching Makeba’s life. “Numerous tales!” says she, when they met in the city after a performance. Seutin’s parent is from Belgium and she mainly grew up there before relocating to study and work in the United Kingdom, where she founded her company the ensemble. Her South African mother would sing her music, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a child, and move along in the living room.

Songs of freedom … Miriam Makeba performs at the venue in the year.

A decade ago, her parent had the illness and was in medical care in London. “I paused my career for a quarter to look after her and she was constantly requesting the singer. She was so happy when we were performing as one,” she remembers. “I had so much time to kill at the hospital so I started researching.” As well as reading about Makeba’s triumphant return to South Africa in the year, after the release of Nelson Mandela (whom she had met when he was a young lawyer in the 1950s), she discovered that Makeba had been a someone who overcame illness in her youth, that her child Bongi died in labor in the year, and that due to her exile she could not attend her parent’s funeral. “Observing individuals and you focus on their success and you overlook that they are facing challenges like everyone,” states the choreographer.

Development and Themes

These reflections went into the making of the show (first staged in the city in the year). Thankfully, her parent’s therapy was successful, but the idea for the work was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, Seutin highlights elements of her life story like memories, and references more broadly to the idea of uprooting and loss nowadays. Although it’s not overt in the show, she had in mind a additional character, a contemporary version who is a traveler. “Together, we assemble as these alter egos of characters linked with the icon to greet this young migrant.”

Melodies of banishment … musicians in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the shebeen’s local drink, the skilled dancers appear possessed by beat, in harmony with the players on stage. Seutin’s choreography includes multiple styles of dance she has absorbed over the time, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the global performers’ personal styles, including urban dances like krump.

A celebration of resilience … Alesandra Seutin.

She was taken aback to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the cast didn’t already know about the artist. (She died in 2008 after having a heart attack on stage in the country.) Why should new audiences discover Mama Africa? “In my view she would motivate young people to advocate what they believe in, expressing honesty,” remarks the choreographer. “But she accomplished this very elegantly. She expressed something poignant and then sing a lovely melody.” Seutin wanted to adopt the same approach in this production. “Audiences observe dancing and listen to beautiful songs, an aspect of entertainment, but mixed with strong messages and instances that resonate. That’s what I admire about Miriam. Since if you are being overly loud, people won’t listen. They back away. But she achieved it in a manner that you would receive it, and hear it, but still be blessed by her talent.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is showing in the city, the dates