Miriam Makeba
Miriam Makeba, often dubbed “Mama Africa,” became popular as a jazz singer in South Africa during the 1950s. Her appearance in Lionel Rogisin’s underground documentary Come Back, Africa (1959), about the struggles of black South Africans under the apartheid political system, brought her to the attention of international audiences. This prompted her to leave her home country in pursuit of more creative freedom and financial reward. She frequently incorporated traditional music elements into her style, such as male backing vocals inspired by the mbube choirs, and sang modern versions of indigenous songs in her native tongue, Xhosa, which is distinctive for its several “clicking” phonemes. With the help of American musician and social activist Harry Belafonte, Makeba recorded several albums in the United States during the 1960s that featured songs in both English and Xhosa, most notably “The Click Song” and “Pata Pata.”