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“When you speak about the legendary singer in the nation, it’s similar to talking about a sovereign,” remarks Alesandra Seutin. Referred to as the Empress of African Song, Makeba also spent time in Greenwich Village with renowned musicians like prominent artists. Starting as a young person dispatched to labor to provide for her relatives in Johannesburg, she later became a diplomat for the nation, then the country’s representative to the United Nations. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was married to a Black Panther. This rich life and legacy inspire the choreographer’s new production, Mimi’s Shebeen, set for its UK premiere.

The Fusion of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

Mimi’s Shebeen merges movement, instrumental performances, and spoken word in a theatrical piece that isn’t a straightforward biodrama but draws on her past, particularly her story of exile: after moving to the city in the year, Makeba was prohibited from her homeland for three decades due to her anti-apartheid stance. Later, she was excluded from the US after wedding Black Panther activist Stokely Carmichael. The show resembles a ritual of remembrance, a deconstructed funeral – some praise, part celebration, some challenge – with the fabulous vocalist the performer leading bringing Makeba’s songs to dynamic existence.

Power and poise … the production.

In the country, a informal gathering spot is an unofficial gathering place for home-brewed liquor and animated discussions, usually presided over by a host. Makeba’s mother the matriarch was a shebeen queen who was arrested for illegally brewing alcohol when Makeba was 18 days old. Incapable of covering the penalty, she was incarcerated for half a year, taking her infant with her, which is how her remarkable journey began – just one of the things Seutin discovered when researching Makeba’s life. “So many stories!” exclaims Seutin, when we meet in Brussels after a show. Her father is from Belgium and she mainly grew up there before moving to study and work in the UK, where she established her company Vocab Dance. Her South African mother would sing her music, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when Seutin was a youngster, and dance to them in the living room.

Melodies of liberation … Miriam Makeba sings at the venue in 1988.

A ten years back, Seutin’s mother had cancer and was in hospital in the city. “I stopped working for three months to look after her and she was constantly requesting Miriam Makeba. It delighted her when we were performing as one,” she remembers. “I had so much time to kill at the facility so I started researching.” In addition to reading about her victorious homecoming to South Africa in 1990, after the release of Nelson Mandela (whom she had encountered when he was a young lawyer in the 1950s), she discovered that Makeba had been a breast cancer survivor in her youth, that her child the girl died in labor in 1985, and that due to her exile she could not attend her own mother’s memorial. “You see people and you look at their achievements and you overlook that they are struggling like anyone else,” states the choreographer.

Creation and Concepts

These reflections went into the making of the production (premiered in Brussels in the year). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s therapy was effective, but the concept for the work was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. Within that, she pulls out threads of Makeba’s biography like memories, and references more broadly to the idea of displacement and dispossession today. Although it’s not explicit in the performance, Seutin had in mind a second protagonist, a modern-day Miriam who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these alter egos of personas connected to the icon to greet this young migrant.”

Melodies of banishment … performers in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the performance, rather than being inebriated by the shebeen’s local drink, the multi-talented performers appear possessed by rhythm, in synthesis with the players on the platform. Seutin’s choreography includes various forms of dance she has learned over the time, including from African nations, plus the global performers’ personal styles, including urban dances like the form.

Honoring strength … the creator.

She was surprised to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the group were unaware about the artist. (Makeba passed away in the year after having a heart attack on the platform in Italy.) Why should new audiences discover the legend? “I think she would inspire young people to stand for what they are, speaking the truth,” remarks the choreographer. “But she did it very elegantly. She’d say something meaningful and then perform a beautiful song.” She aimed to adopt the similar method in this work. “We see dancing and hear melodies, an aspect of entertainment, but intertwined with powerful ideas and instances that resonate. This is what I admire about Miriam. Because if you are shouting too much, people may ignore. They back away. Yet she achieved it in a manner that you would receive it, and understand it, but still be graced by her ability.”

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