Archive for January 2014

"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."

Activism and art has been a joint force since the beginning of forever and the legendary singer and civil rights activist Miriam Makeba fused the two so expertly well that the first thought that comes to mind when you think of her is 'great entertainer' then very closely behind that or maybe even hyphenated, is 'activist'. She was resolute in her belief of what she and everyone knew to be right but few had the courage to act upon. With her mind made up and her courage never wavering she spoke out against the reality of life in South Africa. She continued her messages abroad and when her mother passed away and she wanted to return for the funeral, she found out that her passport had been cancelled. Miriam Makeba was then forced into exile for a total of thirty-one years, beginning in 1960. She became an international star with her hit song Pata Pata and used her platform to continue to shed light on the horrors of apartheid. Through her songs and speeches she brought to people's attention a government regime that oppressed the majority of the population through unjust laws and policies. The largest percentage of the population weren't allowed to exercise the rights that the minority freely enjoyed and even took for granted. I suppose her exile made her more steadfast in her truths, in knowing that if such drastic actions were taken against her, she was making an impact, she was making a difference. She was quoted as saying "In the mind, in the heart, I was always home. I always imagined, really, going back home." and "Nobody will know the pain of exile until you are in exile." The strength that it took for her to continue, I can't even begin to - I can't really do anything else but try to imagine. Every time I read about political activists especially the ones in entertainment from the 1950s through to he 1970s she's always right at the top of the lists. There's no doubt that she was a fighter. Besides her music, it is her fighting spirit that greatly inspires me. It is this spirit that that I see in my sisters as well as something that I sometimes recognize in myself.