Mama Afrika: Hope, Determination and Song – St Georges Theatre, Great Yarmouth

In the year which marks 30 years since the official end of South African apartheid, when Nelson Mandela was elected as the country’s first Black President, Zimbabwean-born singer, musician and storyteller, Anna Mudeka, presents her UK tour of Mama Afrika: Hope, Determination and Song.

The show is a moving and spiritual account of the life of the iconic South African singer, songwriter and anti-apartheid activist, Dr Miriam Makeba.

Anna tells the remarkable story of the woman who became known as Mama Afrika, charting her rise from the townships of South Africa to global star, forced into exile for her stand against apartheid and marginalised for championing Black rights.

Told in four acts that define critical stages of Makeba’s life, Mama Afrika chronicles the seismic personal and political events that came to shape the famous music and voice. With her intimate knowledge of singing in many languages including Swahili, Xhosa, Sothu and Zulu, Anna’s solo performance navigates an epic story through well known songs, including Mbube, Pata Pata and Soweto Blues.

From a rising star exploding onto the international stage, introducing western audiences to African music, we follow the story after the Sharpeville massacre sparks a political awakening and uncompromising stance against apartheid leading to Miriam Makeba’s exile in the United States.

Shunned by the American establishment for aligning with the civil rights movement and marrying a Black Panther Party leader, Stokely Carmichael, we find Makeba displaced in Guinea.

Her renaissance follows as Mama Afrika. Celebrated for championing the Pan African cause and welcomed back to South Africa in the 1990s where, together with the release of Nelson Mandela, her music continues to heal the soul of her homeland.

(Mama Afrika: Anna Mudeka as Miriam Makeba – Copyright Gideon-Graylyons)