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“If you talk about the legendary singer in South Africa, it’s like speaking about a sovereign,” states Alesandra Seutin. Referred to as the Empress of African Song, Makeba also spent time in New York with jazz greats like prominent artists. Beginning as a teenager sent to work to provide for her relatives in Johannesburg, she later became a diplomat for the nation, then Guinea’s representative to the UN. An vocal anti-apartheid activist, she was married to a activist. Her remarkable story and impact inspire Seutin’s latest work, the performance, set for its UK premiere.

A Blend of Movement, Sound, and Narration

Mimi’s Shebeen merges dance, instrumental performances, and spoken word in a theatrical piece that is not a straightforward biodrama but utilizes her past, particularly her story of exile: after moving to the city in the year, she was barred from South Africa for three decades due to her opposition to segregation. Subsequently, she was excluded from the United States after marrying Black Panther activist her spouse. The show is like a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – some praise, some festivity, some challenge – with the exceptional vocalist the performer at the centre bringing Makeba’s songs to dynamic existence.

Strength and elegance … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the country, a informal gathering spot is an under-the-radar gathering place for locally made drinks and animated discussions, usually presided over by a host. Her parent Christina was a shebeen queen who was arrested for illegally brewing alcohol when Makeba was a newborn. Incapable of covering the penalty, she went to prison for six months, bringing her baby with her, which is how her eventful life started – just one of the details Seutin learned when studying Makeba’s life. “So many stories!” says she, when they met in the city after a performance. Seutin’s parent is Belgian and she was raised there before relocating to study and work in the UK, where she established her company Vocab Dance. Her parent would perform her music, such as the tunes, when she was a child, and dance to them in the home.

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

A ten years back, her parent had the illness and was in medical care in the city. “I paused my career for three months to look after her and she was constantly requesting the singer. It delighted her when we were performing as one,” Seutin remembers. “I had so much time to pass at the hospital so I began investigating.” As well as reading about her victorious homecoming to South Africa in 1990, after the release of Nelson Mandela (whom she had met when he was a young lawyer in the 1950s), Seutin discovered that she had been a someone who overcame illness in her youth, that Makeba’s daughter the girl passed away in labor in the year, and that due to her exile she hadn’t been able to be present at her parent’s memorial. “You see people and you focus on their achievements and you overlook that they are struggling like anyone else,” states the choreographer.

Development and Concepts

All these thoughts went into the making of the production (premiered in Brussels in the year). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was effective, but the idea for the work was to celebrate “death, life and mourning”. Within that, she highlights threads of Makeba’s biography like flashbacks, and references more broadly to the theme of displacement and dispossession today. While it’s not overt in the show, Seutin had in mind a additional character, a contemporary version who is a traveler. “Together, we assemble as these alter egos of personas linked with Miriam Makeba to welcome this newcomer.”

Rhythms of exile … musicians in the show.

In the performance, rather than being inebriated by the shebeen’s local drink, the multi-talented dancers appear possessed by beat, in harmony with the players on stage. Seutin’s choreography incorporates multiple styles of dance she has learned over the years, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the global performers’ personal styles, including street styles like the form.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

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 2008 after having a cardiac event on the platform in the country.) Why should new audiences discover Mama Africa? “In my view she would motivate young people to advocate what they believe in, speaking the truth,” remarks Seutin. “However she did it very gracefully. She expressed something meaningful and then perform a beautiful song.” Seutin aimed to adopt the same approach in this work. “We see movement and hear melodies, an element of enjoyment, but mixed with strong messages and moments that hit. This is what I admire about Miriam. Because if you are being overly loud, people may ignore. They retreat. But she did it in a manner that you would receive it, and hear it, but still be graced by her talent.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is at London, the dates