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“If you talk about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s similar to talking about a sovereign,” states the choreographer. Called the Empress of African Song, Makeba additionally spent time in Greenwich Village with renowned musicians like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Beginning as a teenager sent to work to support her family in Johannesburg, she later became a diplomat for the nation, then the country’s official delegate to the UN. An outspoken anti-apartheid activist, she was married to a activist. This rich life and legacy motivate Seutin’s latest work, the performance, set for its British debut.

A Fusion of Movement, Sound, and Narration

Mimi’s Shebeen combines movement, live music, and oral storytelling in a theatrical piece that is not a straightforward biodrama but utilizes her past, especially her experience of banishment: after relocating to New York in 1959, Makeba was prohibited from her homeland for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Subsequently, she was banned from the United States after marrying activist her spouse. The show resembles a ritual of remembrance, a deconstructed funeral – part eulogy, part celebration, part provocation – with a exceptional South African singer the performer leading reviving Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Strength and elegance … the production.

In the country, a informal gathering spot is an under-the-radar venue for locally made drinks and animated discussions, often managed by a host. Her parent Christina was a proprietress who was detained for illegally brewing alcohol when Makeba was 18 days old. Incapable of covering the fine, Christina went to prison for half a year, taking her baby with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey began – just one of the details the choreographer learned when studying her story. “Numerous tales!” exclaims Seutin, when they met in Brussels after a show. Her parent is Belgian and she mainly grew up there before moving to study and work in the UK, where she established her company Vocab Dance. Her parent would perform Makeba’s songs, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when Seutin was a youngster, and move along in the living room.

Melodies of liberation … Miriam Makeba performs at Wembley Stadium in 1988.

A ten years back, Seutin’s mother had the illness and was in medical care in the city. “I stopped working for three months to look after her and she was always requesting the singer. She was so happy when we were singing together,” Seutin remembers. “I had so much time to pass at the facility so I started researching.” As well as reading about Makeba’s triumphant return to South Africa in the year, after the freedom of Nelson Mandela (whom she had encountered when he was a young lawyer in the era), Seutin found that Makeba had been a someone who overcame illness in her teens, that her child Bongi died in childbirth in 1985, and that because of her banishment she hadn’t been able to be present at her own mother’s funeral. “You see people and you focus on their success 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 (first staged in the city in 2023). Thankfully, Seutin’s mother’s therapy was successful, but the concept for the piece was to honor “death, life and mourning”. In this context, Seutin highlights threads of her life story like flashbacks, and nods more generally to the idea of displacement and dispossession today. Although it’s not explicit in the show, she had in mind a additional character, a contemporary version who is a traveler. “Together, we assemble as these other selves of personas connected to the icon to welcome this newcomer.”

Melodies of banishment … musicians in the show.

In the show, rather than being inebriated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the multi-talented performers appear taken over by beat, in harmony with the players on the platform. Seutin’s choreography incorporates various forms of movement she has learned over the years, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the international cast’ personal styles, including street styles like krump.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

Seutin was taken aback to find that some of the newer, international in the group were unaware about the artist. (Makeba died in the year after having a cardiac event on stage in the country.) Why should younger generations learn about Mama Africa? “I think she would inspire the youth to stand for what they believe in, speaking the truth,” remarks the choreographer. “But she accomplished this very gracefully. She’d say something meaningful and then perform a lovely melody.” She wanted to take the similar method in this work. “Audiences observe movement and hear beautiful songs, an element of enjoyment, but intertwined with powerful ideas and instances that resonate. This is what I admire about Miriam. Because if you are shouting too much, people won’t listen. They back away. But she did it in a way that you would receive it, and hear it, but still be graced by her talent.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is at the city, 22-24 October