COLUMNIST

THE MAKEBA I MET AT FESTAC ‘77

Willy Bozimo

She exuded charm and love when I met her, live, during the Festival of Black and African Arts and Culture, FESTAC ‘77 in Lagos . That is some 31 odd years ago. I was barely 33 and she was just 45. And from all the close encounters we had together both in Kano and Lagos , we seemed to have shared some very cordial moments that one can recall with nostalgia and with tears in my eyes.

That she has passed on in the manner of all flesh has again showed the mortality in us all. Here was a singing bird, known the world over as Mama Africa , a lady who used her beautiful and melodic vocal chords to draw the world's attention to the patently evil system in apartheid South Africa . And for 30 bloody years when oppression of blacks sent many into untimely graves and detention cells, she too, took flight away from the hideous system of minority whites ruling over majority black South Africans. She went into voluntary exile.

It was when she was outside South Africa that her popularity soared like the Eagle, as she joined in spreading to all corners of the globe what apartheid meant. We met rather fortuitously during the cultural jamboree that Nigeria hosted in 1977. FESTAC brought out all that was best in the Continent and the Black Diaspora as they came to showcase their cultural values from Africa, the Americas , West Indies , Australia , and the Carribeans.

At that time, FESTAC could only have been sponsored by Nigeria because we had the much needed wealth to assemble the Black Civilization - its dances, poetry, literature, artifacts, cinematography.

And it was under the military Head of State- General Olusegun Obasanjo, and the cultural fiesta provided Nigeria the opportunity to build what today stands as monuments to FESTAC - the Festival Village in Lagos and the Durbar Hotel later nicknamed Festival Hotel along the Orile Iganmu axis on the road to Badagry.

As the literary correspondent within the Daily Times group situated in Kakawa, Lagos and the Deputy Editor of the Lagos Weekend, where some of the sexiest human interest stories made the headlines, I was compelled to follow the track of international artistes like Miriam Makeba, Ama Ata Aido, female novelist and playwright from Ghana who wrote the play - Dilemma of a Ghost; other writers from Ghana as George Kofi Awoonor Williams, poet and novelist, who wrote ‘This Earth, My Brother' and many other poems. We also had the special privilege of not just interviewing these literary giants and giantesses, but I think, I was the only Nigerian journalist, who had the special opportunity to interview Mama Africa , Miriam Makeba, for almost an hour in the posh hotel over-looking the Bar beach -Eko Meridien Hotel, when it was barely being opened for business in the wake of FESTAC 77.

The full length Makeba interview was published in the Lagos Weekend in July 1977 and it was indeed most remarkable because of the special slants I gave to it. These included the love life of Makeba, her exploits in the singing world, failed and continuing marriages with some of the finest men God ever created, Stokely Carmichael of the Black Panther Movement in the United States and later with Hugh Masekela, the ace trumpeter. We spoke about her first exposure to the glittering bright lights of Hollywood 's fantasy world, where stars were made and brought down. She revealed to me then that the world renowned singer, Mr. Harry Belafonte, the handsome blues crooner and lover boy, was instrumental in her journey of musical self-discovery in the United States . And with a Grammy Award to her credit, she became the first African to be so honoured.

For a seemingly rustic and naturally talented woman from the rural innocence of South Africa, Miriam Makeba, slim and tall, and of course, generously endowed in the appropriate locations- chestally and in the back axle, with her intimidating eye balls when her singing Muse was on the highest gear, was truly a beauty to watch at close quarters. During the interview, she was surrounded by six of her young African girls, along with Miatta Fanhbulleh, a diplomat's daughter from Liberia , who also took after her, mimicking her singing and dancing gesticulations.

In an answer to one of my questions, I wanted to know why she did not take the advantage of her rare exposure to Hollywood 's klieg lights, and go all out to make a career in Hollywood . In her reply, she said: “I am not cut out for the life of the Hollywood stars, because according to her ‘I am not Hollywoodish.' ''

That answer goes to show the typical African woman in her, knowing where she was coming from and the embattled life in apartheid South Africa . She was so shy and did not want to abandon the struggle with her music and be carried away by the glamorous world of show stars. She also told me music was her life and she did not want to be drafted into the world of acting for the sake of making the millions. She did not want to be exploited by agents in the movie world.

During the period of FESTAC, Miriam Makeba flew into Kano to participate in some shows, and I was told by the Daily Times to accompany her there. We lodged at Continental Hotel, Kano , where she performed before live audiences to the admiration of millions of fans. It was while we were in Kano that my wife sent word across that she had put to bed a baby girl. And my immediate reply was to name my senior daughter, Miriam, after Makeba.

On my return to Lagos, I followed her to the National Theatre where, together with the singing troupe from South Africa called ‘Ipi Tombi' which literally means, “where are the girls?” and which was made up of over 14 pretty girls and 14 men, sang and danced, rhythmically to beautiful South African songs. The dance drama from Ipi Tombi, was one of the highlights of FESTAC'77 and the crowning glory was the peak and superlative performance of Miriam Makeba, under the close eyes of the military Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo, who sat in the front row along with some other members of the Supreme Military Council.

And long after FESTAC, Miriam Makeba was a regular visitor to Nigeria and whenever she came, the Nigerian leaders have always treated her like the Empress of African song stars, loved and admired to a fault. A Makeba show had always attracted the best of the glitterati world wide and when the news came that she died singing in far away Italy , at age 76, I knew that the sun has set on the Queen of African songs.

I cannot forget the sweet memories of FESTAC 77, where we dined and wined together in the cosy rooms of Eko Meridien Hotel, Lagos , when the Hotel was being opened to coincide with the Black Festival of Arts and Culture. Miriam Makeba to me, was like a sweet mother to most of us who came close to her. She was humane and human. Loving and friendly. She did not discriminate against anyone as long as you appreciated her music and her person. And for a resourceful journalist who wanted scoops, I was privileged to get a full length interview for the Lagos Weekend, where I was the Deputy Editor in addition to doing other interviews with African writers who came for FESTAC.

It was interesting talking with writers like Taban Lo liyong from Uganda, Lenrie Peters, a medical doctor turned poet from the Gambia and Dennis Brutus, from South Africa, who wrote a collection of poems titled ‘Letters to Martha' in which he chronicled the apartheid stories in poetry.

All these articles and interviews were published in the Daily and Sunday Times of Nigeria, and of course, in the Lagos Weekend where I held court and was referred to as The Sex editor.

My tribute to Miriam Makeba lies in the fact that in her long musical career, she touched so many lives, like the late Brenda Fassie and the scintillating and pretty Yvonne Chaka Chaka, all displaying a slice of Makeba's style in dance and songs, and who lived most of the time, outside her own country until Nelson Mandela was released from prison after detention for 27 years and became president of South Africa.

As an Amazon of the apartheid struggle along with the former wife of Mandela - the pretty and sexy-looking Winnie Mandela, who, for 27 odd years, was denied the amorous embrace and loving care of a husband, she deserves to be given a pride of place in the pantheon of the South Africa 's struggle.

Makeba, my Miriam Makeba, I can only take solace in the fact that my senior daughter called Mariam, who dances and sings like you, will remain a constant reminder of your enormous talent as the singing bird from Africa, and we know Africa and the World's loss in your death can only be Heaven's gain. Say me well to all other musicians who led the way before your departure- Sonny Okosuns of Ozzidi fame sang for Soweto and anti-Apartheid songs, Lucky Dube, who was not too lucky in the hands of fellow South African hoodlums that gunned him down in his own limousine- and one is pretty sure there must be a gathering of musical stars waiting in Heaven to receive you as the Uncrowned Empress of African songs.. I love you Miriam even in death.