Abstract

Born in Johannesburg in 1933, Miriam Makeba was destined to be a prominent singer. When she started singing, she earned a paltry income from her talent in the 1950s. Her first recording was done with the Manhattan Brothers, singing Makhwenkwe Davashe’s song, “Lakutshon’ilanga,” but her voice soon attracted scouts who could not resist her singing genius. She became a member of a woman group called the Skylarks, which was a pioneer for many groups that would follow such as the Dark City Sisters and Mahotella Queens. This study, though, focused on Makeba’s journey as a musician who sang to address apartheid’s cruelty and social injustice. It explores what these songs meant to Makeba and why they needed to be sung. The discussion also reveals why it is apt to refer to Makeba as a Pan-Africanist artist and a revolutionary fighter for justice. Using theory synthesis as the research methodology, the study explores Pan-Africanism and artists as revolutionaries who strive for social transformation. The major findings reveal that the struggle for liberation needed artists to inspire the freedom fighters while communities continued marching forward for justice and freedom from all forms of oppression. Without artists such as poets, singers, and painters, the struggle against apartheid could have taken much longer. The conclusions show that Pan-African activist musicians might have to adopt songs in future that reflect Afropolitanism as they respond to global strife.