Meeting Miriam Makeba in 1987...

I never saw Miriam Makeba performing live. So many friends and family had always told stories of how she smiled, how she sang from her heart, how she ...there are so many sincere words in her autobiography which i read in 1988. In one of the many remarkable lines, she says she loves singing so much that she wouldn't mind dying on stage.


So one day I am in London.
It is Winter 1987...
My first time in the city and a writer I had met at a bookfare, recomended African food at Stroud Green near Finsbury Park station. His name was Ben Okri and he wasn't famous yet.
Nor had he won the Booker.
In i went and as i sat down to order my Egusi and other succulent Nigerian dishes, I saw her. She was chatting to a young pretty woman. I went over and greeted her. I could not believe i was talking to Miriam Makeba.
She was polite, soft spoken, motherly, soft and warm. She reminded me of the wise, powerful women you meet in remote villages, friendly unselfish nurses in thousands of hospitals across the globe; lovely mammas selling you fruits and fish at markets around huge cities...
Miriam Makeba wasn't the diva that many of superstars are today. She could out-perform, out-sing most ( or all) of them; but here she was talking to me a total stranger, introducing me to her granddaughter...
Two years earlier she had lost her daughter Bongi also a fantastic singer who died giving birth...and here she was.
That was the first and last time i saw Miriam Makeba in person. And this is the only image i hold and cherish about her...like a prized ornament, a hug, a purse, a precious memento...
May God rest her soul in peace...

...these wonderful women musicians...

...there is so much music, so many musicians and so much more to come...for each drug addict musician there are several clean cut sober musicians.
Anyway.
Here are my two favourite clips of the week...



I have seen Gal Costa several times; in Brazil she is considered Number One female singer. Unlike Miriam Makeba, Aretha Franklin and Alicia Keys (below) Gal is not a songwriter but more of an excellent "interpreter" of other people's music. A sort ofElla Fitzgerald .
One of those singers with the gift of making any song (by anyone) shine.
Singer's singer.
I chose this song by the great Antony Jobim because Gal Costa turns "Wave" into ...what is the word? Magic. Heavens. Beleza...

...mmmh...
Thought Jobim and Gal Costa sound dated and old fashioned? Check out the youthful ever last, Alicia Keys, below.
Alicia Keys is a role model for young (especially female) musicians. She plays the goddamn instrument well and sings superbly. We havent started on her looks (up to you)...


Through experience teaching music to young people in the (last two decades or so) I have noticed a tendency amongst today's youth not taking time to learn and practise instruments. Rapping(hip hop) is most common for boys and girls just want to sing and dance. Playing an instrument well (although I am not saying the voice is not an instrument) is very demanding and takes years and years to accomplish. (Was it the great pianist and singerRay Charles who told BBC's Jools Holland that you will never quite "beat" your instrument but try to know it somehow?)
... Alicia Keys is a hardworker.
(She meshes classical European style with jazz and blues in her piano technique).
Hard working ethic cooked with talent breeds more beauty.
...Here is a fascinating link : from traditional soul and jazz singers: Ella Fitzgerald,Billie Holiday , past Dionne Warwick through Aretha Franklin to...
...the Keys...