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“When you speak about Miriam Makeba in South Africa, it’s akin to referring about a sovereign,” explains Alesandra Seutin. Referred to as the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist also spent time in Greenwich Village with renowned musicians like prominent artists. Starting as a teenager dispatched to labor to provide for her relatives in Johannesburg, she later served as an envoy for the nation, then the country’s representative to the UN. An outspoken anti-apartheid activist, she was married to a activist. Her rich story and impact inspire Seutin’s latest work, the performance, set for its British debut.

The Blend of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

Mimi’s Shebeen combines dance, instrumental performances, and spoken word in a stage work that is not a straightforward biodrama but draws on Makeba’s history, particularly her story of exile: after moving to New York in the year, Makeba was barred from her homeland for 30 years due to her opposition to segregation. Later, she was banned from the United States after wedding activist Stokely Carmichael. The show resembles a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – some praise, part celebration, some challenge – with the exceptional South African singer Tutu Puoane at the centre bringing her music to vibrant life.

Strength and elegance … the production.

In the country, a shebeen is an unofficial venue for locally made drinks and animated discussions, usually presided over by a shebeen queen. Makeba’s mother Christina was a proprietress who was arrested for illegally brewing alcohol when Miriam was 18 days old. Incapable of covering the penalty, she was incarcerated for six months, taking her infant with her, which is how Miriam’s eventful life began – just one of the details the choreographer learned when researching her story. “So many stories!” says Seutin, when we meet in the city after a show. Seutin’s father is Belgian and she was raised there before relocating to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she founded her company the ensemble. Her South African mother would perform Makeba’s songs, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when she was a child, and dance to them in the living room.

Songs of freedom … the artist sings at Wembley Stadium in the year.

A ten years back, Seutin’s mother had the illness and was in hospital in London. “I paused my career for three months to look after her and she was constantly requesting the singer. She was so happy when we were singing together,” Seutin remembers. “There was ample time to kill at the facility so I started researching.” In addition to learning of 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 era), she discovered that she had been a breast cancer survivor in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter Bongi passed away in childbirth in 1985, and that due to her banishment she could not attend her parent’s memorial. “Observing individuals and you look at their achievements and you forget that they are facing challenges like everyone,” says the choreographer.

Creation and Concepts

All these thoughts went into the making of the production (first staged in Brussels in the year). Thankfully, her parent’s treatment was effective, but the concept for the piece was to honor “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, Seutin highlights threads of Makeba’s biography like memories, and nods more generally to the theme of displacement and dispossession today. Although it’s not overt in the performance, she had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a traveler. “Together, we assemble as these alter egos of characters linked with the icon to welcome this young migrant.”

Melodies of banishment … musicians in the show.

In the performance, rather than being inebriated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the multi-talented dancers appear taken over by beat, in harmony with the musicians on the platform. Her dance composition incorporates various forms of movement she has absorbed over the years, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the global performers’ own vocabularies, 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 group didn’t already know about the singer. (Makeba died in 2008 after having a cardiac event on stage in the country.) Why should new audiences learn about the legend? “In my view she would inspire young people to advocate what they are, speaking the truth,” remarks Seutin. “But she accomplished this very elegantly. She’d say something meaningful and then perform a beautiful song.” She wanted to adopt the similar method in this production. “Audiences observe movement and hear melodies, an element of entertainment, but intertwined with strong messages and instances that resonate. That’s what I respect about Miriam. Because if you are being overly loud, people may ignore. They back away. But she achieved it in a manner that you would accept it, and understand it, but still be blessed by her talent.”

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