MiriamMakeba
Stockholm, May 2002
The 11th Polar Music Prize Ceremony was held at Berwaldhallen, Stockholm in the May of 2002. The evening continued with a banquet in Vinterträdgården at Stockholm’s Grand Hôtel.
HM King Carl XVI Gustaf presented the Prize to the two Laureates Miriam Makeba and Sofia Gubaidulina.
The citation for Miriam Makeba was read by South African social rights activist and bishop Desmond Tutu, and the citation for Sofia Gubaidulina was read by Swedish composer and The Royal Swedish Academy of Music member Karin Rehnqvist.
Special arrangements of the Laureates’ music was performed by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and an amazing line up of international and Swedish artists honoured the Laureates by performing their music both at the ceremony and banquet.
The event was broadcast live on Swedish national television (TV4).
Desmond Tutu arriving to Berwaldhallen
Laureates Sofia Gubaidulina and Miriam Makeba
I don’t sing about politics. I sing the truth.
Miriam Makeba
From Manhattan Brothers to Skylarks
Miriam Makeba was born in Johannesburg on 4 March 1932. She made her official singing debut as a new member in the vocal group the Manhattan Brothers in 1953, one of the most influential groups in the history of South African music, mostly active during the late '40s and '50s. She left the band in 1958 to form the successful group The Skylarks, and reunited with the Manhattan Brothers for the musical King Kong, that told the tragic story of boxer Ezekiel "King Kong" Dlamani, in 1959.
The Skylarks - South African (Source: Memorabilia Stor)
International breakthrough
After successes in musicals King Kong and the African Jazz and Variety, Makeba was invited to perform in Europe and the US. She there got embraced by the African American community. "Pata Pata," Makeba's signature tune, was written by Dorothy Masuka and recorded already in 1956 before eventually becoming a major hit in the U.S. ten years after its first release in South Africa.
She started a long-lasting collaboration with Harry Belafonte after having performed with him at his groundbreaking concerts in Carnegie Hall, a performance that was recorded and released as an album in 1960.
Rare poster from the 1964 Forest Hills Music Festival, where the Beatles also performed.
Hit singel "Pata, pata" from 1967 made Miriam Makeba famous world wide.
Political engagement
In 1960, the government of South Africa revoked Makeba's citizenship due to her outspoken opposition against the Apartheid regime. She would then live outside her country of birth during 30 years. 1964 and 1975, she addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations on the horrors of apartheid. Her records were banned in South Africa. She married Stokely Carmichael in 1969, an activist within the Black Panther Party. She then got radicalised also in the US, with cancelled shows and disagreements with her record company.
The couple Makeba/Carmichael relocated to Guinea where she agreed to serve as Guinea's delegate to the United Nations.
Stokely Carmichael as a senior in high school, 1960. (Source: Wikimedia commons)
"Kilimanjaro", Live performance at Berns, Stockholm, 1966
Mama Africa
Makeba remained active as a musician over the years, while also speaking for the sake of South Africa and human rights. In 1975, she recorded A Promise, with Joe Sample, Stix Hooper, Arthur Adams, and David T. Walker of the Crusaders. Makeba also joined Paul Simon and South Africa 's Ladysmith Black Mambazo during their worldwide Graceland tour in 1987 and 1988.
With Paul Simon performing "Under African Skies", 1987
Going home
Following Nelson Mandela's release from prison, Makeba returned to South Africa in December 1990. She performed her first concert in her homeland in 30 years in April 1991.
In 1995, Makeba formed a charity organization to raise funds to help protect the women of South Africa. Makeba's first studio album in a decade, Homeland, was released in 2000.
Nelson Mandela (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Nina Simone & Miriam Makeba - "Thulasizwe / I Shall Be Released"
Content of biography is presented here as it was published in 2012.
All pictures from the ceremony and the banquet by © Polar Music Prize.
In memoriam Miriam Makeba, 1932–2008.
Marie Ledin
Managing Director
marie.ledin@polarmusicprize.org
Alfons Karabuda
Chairman of the Polar Music
Prize Award Committee
alfons@polarmusicprize.org
Polar Music Prize
Po Box 55777
SE-114 83 Stockholm
Sweden
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