CUBA: Music legend Miriam Makeba, best known for the hit Pata Pata, performs in Cuba as part of her farewell concert

Record ID: 368509

  • Title: CUBA: Music legend Miriam Makeba, best known for the hit Pata Pata, performs in Cuba as part of her farewell concert
  • Date: 15th October 2005
  • Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (RECENT) (REUTERS) MIRIAM MAKEBA IN CONCERT AT ASTRAL THEATER IN HAVANA
  • Embargoed: 30th October 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cuba
  • Country: Cuba
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVACN3KALQW6DCINR0CPBZ58L7P6
  • Story Text: Miriam Makeba recently performed two concerts at Havana's Cine Teatro Astral during her global tour to bid farewell to the stage.
    The 73-year-old music legend, known as Mama Africa, said she she's feeling tired and wanted to return to some of the countries that supported her, among them, Cuba.
    "Cuba has been very important to us and still is today," she said. "There are many countries which are rich, and have all the possibilities or had the possibilities to help us, but they never did."
    Makeba, one of Africa's most distinguished singers and human rights activists, showed her wide musical range as she shone onstage with her trademark music that included a mix of jazz to traditional African tunes.
    She criticized the U.S. government's response to black communities after Hurricane Katrina and praised Cuba for its cooperation with African nations, particularly in health care.
    Makeba was exiled from her native South Africa for her outspoken opposition to apartheid and sought refuge in the United States. After marrying radical black activist, Stokely Carmichael, she left the United States and settled in Guinea. She returned to her country some 30 years later, after the prison release of Nelson Mandela and dedicated much of her time to helping girls and victims of land mines.
    She and Harry Belafonte won a Grammy for the best folk recording in 1966 for the album "An Evening with Belafonte and Makeba." She also performed with Paul Simon on his Graceland tour in the mid-1980s.
    Her farewell tour will take her to 52 countries including Brazil, Venezuela, the United States, Spain and Germany. She has said that she plans to continue recording even after her tour.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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