ARTS The Michigan Doily Friday, April 1, 1988 Page 5 ... ..... . . . .. . ..... .. . .. .... ..... ............5 Makeba 's music cries from the heart By Todd Shanker "I've said the government of South Africa oppresses my people. When I say police shoot little chil- dren, men and women, unarmed it is true. Should I stop saying these things? Should I lie? Or should I continue to tell the truth? I have chosen the truth. I sing songs about the way things are. They are the cries of my heart." A native South African banished from her homeland, Miriam Makeba's life is a magnificent African mosaic, deeply engraved with subjugation, tragedy, and tri- umph. Her music vibrates with the beauty of a proud people's ancient musical heritage as well as the pain of the savage oppression of apartheid. Sunday evening, Miriam Makeba will make her Ann Arbor debut with two performances at the Power Center. The shows will also feature the blustery, Mbaqanga-jazz trumpet and deep, dark, bullfrog vo- cals of another South African expa- triate, the electrifying Hugh Masekela. Born March 4, 1932, in Johan- nesburg, South Africa, Miriam Makeba clashed with the horrors of apartheid before she was even old enough to understand her tribula- tions. When she was just 18 days old, her mother was jailed for mak- ing cornmeal beer to sell to neigh- bors, in defiance of anti-alcohol laws imposed on Blacks. Mother and her into perpetual exile by stamping her passport "invalid." Because of her often politically poignant state- ments, South Africa's white minor- ity regime refused to allow her back into the country. She had become an exile. "When I want to talk to my dead mother, I kneel and face the rising sun. I believe those who die, espe- cially those you have loved, will al- ways be with you," she says, in a homesick voice that reflects sad memories like the silent faces on a faded, black-and-white photo. The United States waited with open arms, however, and quickly clasped Makeba to its ample wallet. Record companies drooled over her breezy African lullabies and illumi- nating parables. Her 1967 hit "Pata, Pata" topped record charts through- out the world and started a new dance craze. But in the midst of her glittering ascendance, Makeba's ca- reer suddenly began a tortuous and helpless freefall. Her 1968 marriage to Black Power revolutionary Stokely Carmichael led to cancelled shows, vaporized record contracts, and media ostracism. She was now an exile in two countries. Looking back on the unofficial boycott that curtailed her American career, Makeba says she was not an- gry but sad. "I don't feel I should complain because there are so many people at home who are much worse off," she says. "Sometimes I think of myself as a spotted leopard among cheetahs. Yes, I'm different. But in the bigger scheme of things, I look at Blacks. Wherever they are I see suffering. I think of people like Mrs. Mandela who are struggling right there in the flames, people who see so much ugliness done to children and whose husbands are in prison. At least I don't have to dodge bul- lets." These vicissitudes might have destroyed a lesser person. But the vitality of the Swazi culture in which Makeba grew up sustained her. She returned to Africa in 1970, this time settling in Guinea. There she became a tireless and outspoken delegate to the United Nations, in- cessantly decrying the apartheid regime of South Africa while fight- ing against human rights violations all over the world. Throughout the '70s and into the '80s, Makeba refueled her music ca- reer by touring a variety of African countries. In concert, Makeba multiplies her voices; there are grainy shouts, clear exhortations, Xhosa tongue-clicks, robust yodels, eerie bird-cries, surging harmonies, and joyously unpredictable counter- point. At other times, her vocal in- flections, curl like warm arms around a baby, for without undue hyperbole, she is internationally known as "Mama Africa." Sadly, it is as a mother that Makeba has suffered most inti- mately, for the real victim of her exile has been her only child. The decline of her beautiful daughter Bongi into madness and death carved yet another scar into her soul. Bongi's alienation from her home- land of South Africa lead to mental instability. She could not adapt to the harsh and constant changes that her mother handled so well. Bongi died in the midst of childbirth in Guinea, still separated from the cul- ture and homeland. But as the rollercoaster contin- ued, in 1986, Makeba won Bel- gium's coveted Dag Hammerskjold Peace Prize - a well-deserved tes- tament to her important role since the '50s as a symbol of Black pride, resilience, and resistance. In 1987 she returned to America, absolutely shining on Paul Simon's Graceland Tour, recording a new album called Sangoma, and publishing an auto- biography - entitled Makeba: My Story. Another graduate of the Graceland Tour, the legendary trumpeter Hugh Masekela, will also bring his incen- See Makeba, Page 7 Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela team up Sunday night for what promises to be a cultural, political, and musical experience of unparalleled power and beauty. baby spent six months in a filthy prison with barely enough food to keep them alive. After she left South Africa to pursue a music career, she stepped onto what would turn out to be a rollercoaster of emotion, hurtling her through triumphant peaks and shat- tering lows. In 1960, her mother died, and Makeba yearned to go home and be with her family. But when she entered the South African consulate in New York City, in one swift motion, a white bureaucrat cast .,rj=xxxx&xxxjLxT T TV I 117 XlbL COUPON $1.50 OFE Adult Evening Admission (I \rept uesdax 1 TICKET Gooathrn 417188 COUPON BRING IN THIS AD FOR A GREAT MOVIE DEAL! (ONE TICKET PER COUPON) i ' COOKIES 1 Try our cookie crumbles - It's a great mix-in 1/2 OFF MIX-INs ' with purchase of any size Frozen Yogurt 715 N. University 761-CHIP 1227 S. University 668-6361 Open daily'til 11:00 *"t offer expires 4/10/88 with coupon - -=-----mmM-mm®mM Sun., April 3 The University of Michigan SCHOOL OF MUSIC Concert in Memoriam In observation of the 20th anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with the Brazeal Dennard Chorale, Our Own Thing Chorale, Ann Arbor Orchestra, H. Robert Reynolds conducting Glenda.Kirkland, soprano; Gregory Broughton, tenor; Willis Patterson, narrator;.Brian Oliver, child soloist. James Weldon Johnson: Lift Every Voice and Sing William Grant Still: Afro-American Symphony Adolphus Hailstork: Done Made My Vow Hill, 8:00 p.m. Free. THE DEAD SAMMY AND ROSIE GET LAID For up-to-date program information on School of Music events call the 24-Hour Music Hotline, 763-4726 A& w x x xx x xx x x0x x z wwwwwxu -. i .. w -, dEbWMMP' I IC CI TER Y KE LS EC MMN STREET 7 IN-;:) 'ao8 pyF PERSONAL & BUSINESS SELF-- 17TORAGE * For Your Home & Business * On-Site Managers * Fenced & Lighted * Electronic Access The brand-new Michigan Bell CA$H CARD,. cards and CA$H CARD phones. It's the { super convenient way to make calls. When you buy Michigan Bell CA$H CARD cards for $2, $5 or $10, you'll be ready for any calls you might want to make later. To use it, just pop it into one of the Michiaan * Low Monthly Rates 0 10' x 10' & 10' x 20' Units