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South African singer Miriam Makeba was barred from returning home in 1960, when the government cancelled her passport. She spent 30 years in exile, using her concerts and her testimony at the United Nations to campaign against apartheid.

Miriam Makeba

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The story behind the card

Apartheid was the system of legal racial segregation that ruled South Africa from 1948 until the early 1990s. Makeba left in 1959 to attend the Venice premiere of Come Back, Africa, an anti-apartheid film in which she sang, then settled in New York with Harry Belafonte's help. When she tried to return for her mother's funeral in 1960, she was refused entry. In 1963 she spoke against apartheid before a United Nations committee, and her records were banned at home. In 1966 she and Belafonte shared a Grammy for their joint album, and her song Pata Pata became a worldwide hit in 1967. She returned home in 1990, after Nelson Mandela's release, and was widely known as 'Mama Africa'.

Türkçe oku
Güney Afrikalı şarkıcı Miriam Makeba, hükümet 1960'ta pasaportunu iptal edince ülkesine dönemedi. Otuz yıl sürgünde yaşadı; konserlerini ve Birleşmiş Milletler'deki tanıklığını apartheid rejimine karşı mücadelede kullandı.

Apartheid, Güney Afrika'da 1948'den 1990'ların başına kadar süren ve ırk ayrımını yasayla dayatan rejimin adıdır. Makeba 1959'da, şarkı söylediği apartheid karşıtı Come Back, Africa filminin Venedik'teki galasına katılmak için ülkesinden ayrıldı; ardından Harry Belafonte'nin yardımıyla New York'a yerleşti. 1960'ta annesinin cenazesi için dönmek istediğinde ülkeye sokulmadı. 1963'te bir Birleşmiş Milletler komitesinde apartheid'ı anlattı; plakları da ülkesinde yasaklandı. 1966'da Belafonte'yle yaptıkları ortak albümle Grammy Ödülü'nü paylaştılar; 1967'de Pata Pata şarkısı dünya çapında sevildi. Nelson Mandela serbest bırakıldıktan sonra, 1990'da ülkesine döndü. Geniş kitleler onu “Mama Africa” diye anıyordu.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Miriam Makeba
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