MIRIAM MAKEBA: ‘MAMA AFRICA’ FINALLY RETURNS HOME--ALMOST

“Even though we had known for weeks that the tour was coming here, I kept thinking, ‘It’s not going to happen. . . . Something will come up and we won’t really get there,’ ” Miriam Makeba said backstage last weekend at Rufaro Stadium here.

“When I was on the plane (from London to Harare), I never slept. I was too excited. It was only when we landed and I stepped on the ground that I finally told myself that it was true . . . that I really was here once more. How long has it been now? . . . 30 years?”

Makeba has been called “Mama Africa,” the “Empress of African Song”--and an undesirable.

Born in 1932 in Johannesburg, South Africa, and given the Xhosa tribal name of Zensile, Makeba began expressing her outrage over the oppression of blacks in her native land through her music while still a member of church and school choirs.

She stirred so much excitement that she was invited to be the lead singer of one of the country’s top bands, the Manhattan Brothers, when barely out of her teens. But it was her singing in “Come Back, Africa,” a 1958 documentary film, that caught the ear of Harry Belafonte, who invited her to join him on a world tour.

Makeba was an immediate hit with Belafonte, drawing enthusiastic responses from critics and fans alike. It was a thrilling time, but she didn’t forget about conditions back home. In interviews, she was an outspoken critic of the treatment of blacks by South Africa’s white minority government.

In 1960 she discovered the price of that criticism. When she attempted that year to return home for her mother’s funeral, Makeba was denied entry. She has been an exile ever since.

Though she performed in another neighboring South African country in 1980, her shows here last weekend--as part of Paul Simon’s “Graceland” tour--were her first appearances in Harare since her days with the Manhattan Brothers three decades ago.

It was an emotional moment when she stepped on stage last Saturday midway through the two-hour show. The crowd of 20,000--including several hundred fans from neighboring South Africa--gave her a warm, impassioned greeting.

Indeed, Makeba’s return here sparked so much interest and emotion that she was in constant demand--on stage and off. Reporters--many of whom had come here from South Africa for the historic weekend shows--lined up backstage to talk to her, and fans--black and white--waited for her at the hotel.

Makeba, who’ll be 55 next month, was especially touched by the fans at the hotel.

“There was one group of young whites who gave me a gift and said they hope to see us all back home soon,” Makeba said. “That’s my dream too--the day when we can bring a show like this back to Johannesburg, and have everyone--black and white--able to attend.”

While that South African visit is apparently still a considerable time away, Makeba is looking forward to her upcoming return to another country where she once felt unwelcome: the United States.

Thanks to the Belafonte tours and wide TV exposure, Makeba was a popular concert and recording artist in the U.S. during the 1960s--until her marriage in 1968 to civil rights militant Stokely Carmichael. Apparently fearing a public backlash, promoters and record companies quickly lost interest in her.

A disheartened Makeba moved to Guinea in western Africa and centered her career overseas. She has done only a handful of concerts in the U.S. since the ‘60s, and she hasn’t made a record here in years.

But the “Graceland” tour, which opens a five-night stand at the Universal Amphitheatre on March 3, is part of a re-emergence. Her autobiography is due this fall from New American Library and some record companies have reportedly expressed interest in an album by her.

About her fall from grace in the U.S., Makeba who was divorced from Carmichael in 1978, said, “I was never exiled from the U.S. . . . That was a rumor. I left simply because I couldn’t work there anymore. There was a subtle boycott. When I was engaged to Stokely, every (job) I had was canceled. So, what was I to do? I was getting work in Europe and Africa and Asia, so that’s where I went. That’s what kept (my career) alive.

“I don’t blame the American government or the American people. I think it is more tied to the thinking of show business people. They were nervous about being associated with me. I am thankful to Paul (Simon) for helping me make this (return to U.S. touring). The tour has been wonderful everywhere we have gone (in Europe and Harare).”

Makeba isn’t the only South African exile on the “Graceland” tour. Jazz trumpeter Hugh Masekela, who was born about 100 miles east of Johannesburg in 1939, was also aided in his transition to the West by Harry Belafonte, among others. As the political situation worsened in the early ‘60s, he fled to England and later to the U.S., where he studied at the Manhattan School of Music.

Masekela registered a No. 1 hit in the U.S. in 1968 with his pop-accented instrumental “Grazing in the Grass,” but he subsequently began an aggressive and fruitful exploration of his South African musical roots. He has recently enjoyed a new wave of success, particularly in Africa, where pop fans have become increasingly interested in traditional African music.

Though he performed here last year, there was also considerable interest in him among journalists, and in an effort to accommodate as many interview requests as possible, he and Makeba resorted at one point to doing joint interviews backstage.

About the political situation in his native country, he said, “I think people there should look at Zimbabwe to see how the rights of Europeans here have been protected. There was all kinds of concerns (among whites) about what would happen when independence was declared (in 1980 and the black majority was given power), but none of the fears have (been realized).

“But they (the white minority government in South Africa) better decide soon to give us freedom, because time is running out. Our children are the first people to beat a super military government with stones. But they might decide that stones are no longer what is necessary. They may feel it is time for other weapons. I hope the government comes to its senses before that happens.”