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“Discussing about the legendary singer in the nation, it’s like speaking about a sovereign,” states Alesandra Seutin. Known as Mama Africa, Makeba also associated in New York with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Beginning as a teenager sent to work to support her family in Johannesburg, she eventually became a diplomat for Ghana, then the country’s official delegate to the UN. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was the wife to a Black Panther. Her rich story and impact motivate Seutin’s latest work, the performance, scheduled for its British debut.

A Fusion of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

The show merges dance, live music, and oral storytelling in a theatrical piece that is not a straightforward biodrama but utilizes Makeba’s history, particularly her experience of banishment: after relocating to the city in the year, she was barred from her homeland for 30 years due to her anti-apartheid stance. Subsequently, she was banned from the US after wedding activist Stokely Carmichael. The performance resembles a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – part eulogy, part celebration, some challenge – with a fabulous South African singer the performer at the centre reviving Makeba’s songs to dynamic existence.

Power and poise … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the country, a shebeen is an unofficial gathering place for home-brewed liquor and animated discussions, often presided over by a host. Makeba’s mother Christina was a shebeen queen who was arrested for illegally brewing alcohol when Makeba was 18 days old. Incapable of covering the penalty, she was incarcerated for six months, bringing her infant with her, which is how her remarkable journey started – just one of the details Seutin discovered when studying Makeba’s life. “So many stories!” says she, when we meet in the city after a performance. Her father is Belgian and she mainly grew up there before moving to study and work in the UK, where she founded her company the ensemble. Her South African mother would sing Makeba’s songs, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when Seutin was a child, and dance to them in the home.

Songs of freedom … the artist sings at the venue in the year.

A decade ago, Seutin’s mother had cancer and was in medical care in London. “I stopped working for a quarter to take care of her and she was constantly requesting the singer. She was so happy when we were singing together,” Seutin recalls. “I had so much time to pass at the hospital so I started researching.” In addition to reading about her victorious homecoming to the nation in the year, after the freedom of Nelson Mandela (whom she had encountered when he was a legal professional in the 1950s), Seutin discovered that she had been a someone who overcame illness in her youth, that Makeba’s daughter Bongi died in labor in 1985, and that due to her banishment she could not be present at her parent’s funeral. “You see people and you look at their success and you overlook that they are facing challenges like anyone else,” says Seutin.

Creation and Themes

These reflections went into the creation of the show (first staged in Brussels in the year). Thankfully, her parent’s therapy was successful, but the idea for the piece was to celebrate “death, life and mourning”. Within that, Seutin pulls out elements of her life story like memories, and nods more broadly to the theme of uprooting and loss nowadays. While it’s not explicit in the performance, Seutin had in mind a additional character, a contemporary version who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these alter egos of characters linked with the icon to welcome this young migrant.”

Rhythms of exile … performers in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the performance, rather than being intoxicated by the shebeen’s local drink, the skilled performers appear possessed by beat, in harmony with the players on the platform. Seutin’s choreography includes multiple styles of movement she has absorbed over the time, including from African nations, plus the international cast’ own vocabularies, including street styles like krump.

A celebration of resilience … the creator.

She was taken aback to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the cast didn’t already know about the artist. (Makeba died in the year after having a cardiac event on the platform in the country.) Why should younger generations learn about Mama Africa? “In my view she would inspire young people to stand for what they are, expressing honesty,” remarks Seutin. “But she accomplished this very gracefully. She’d say something poignant and then sing a lovely melody.” She wanted to take the similar method in this work. “Audiences observe dancing and listen to beautiful songs, an aspect of entertainment, but intertwined with strong messages and moments that hit. That’s what I admire about her. Since if you are being overly loud, people may ignore. They retreat. But she achieved it in a manner that you would accept it, and understand it, but still be graced by her ability.”

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