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“Discussing about Miriam Makeba in South Africa, it’s similar to talking about a queen,” explains Alesandra Seutin. Referred to as the Empress of African Song, Makeba additionally associated in New York with renowned musicians like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Starting as a young person dispatched to labor to provide for her relatives in Johannesburg, she eventually became a diplomat for Ghana, then Guinea’s representative to the UN. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was married to a Black Panther. Her rich life and legacy motivate Seutin’s new production, Mimi’s Shebeen, set for its British debut.

A Fusion of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

The show combines movement, live music, and spoken word in a stage work that isn’t a simple biography but draws on Makeba’s history, particularly her experience of banishment: after relocating to the city in 1959, Makeba was prohibited from her homeland for 30 years due to her opposition to segregation. Later, she was excluded from the United States after wedding activist her spouse. The performance resembles a ceremonial tribute, a reimagined memorial – part eulogy, some festivity, part provocation – with the fabulous vocalist Tutu Puoane leading bringing her music to vibrant life.

Power and poise … the production.

In South Africa, a shebeen is an under-the-radar gathering place for home-brewed liquor and lively conversation, often managed by a host. Her parent the matriarch was a proprietress who was arrested for illegally brewing alcohol when Makeba was 18 days old. Unable to pay the fine, Christina was incarcerated for six months, taking her infant with her, which is how Miriam’s remarkable journey began – just one of the things Seutin discovered when studying Makeba’s life. “Numerous tales!” exclaims Seutin, when we meet in Brussels after a show. Seutin’s father is from Belgium and she mainly grew up there before relocating to learn and labor in the United Kingdom, where she established her company the ensemble. Her South African mother would sing Makeba’s songs, such as the tunes, when Seutin was a child, and dance to them in the living room.

Melodies of liberation … Miriam Makeba performs at Wembley Stadium in the year.

A decade ago, her parent had cancer and was in hospital in London. “I paused my career for a quarter to look after her and she was always requesting Miriam Makeba. She was so happy when we were singing together,” Seutin recalls. “There was ample time to pass at the hospital so I began investigating.” As well as learning of Makeba’s triumphant return to the nation in 1990, after the freedom of Nelson Mandela (whom she had encountered when he was a legal professional in the 1950s), she found that Makeba had been a someone who overcame illness in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter the girl passed away in labor in 1985, and that because of her banishment she hadn’t been able to be present at her own mother’s funeral. “Observing individuals and you focus on their achievements and you overlook that they are struggling like anyone else,” says Seutin.

Development and Concepts

These reflections contributed to the creation of the production (first staged in Brussels in the year). Fortunately, Seutin’s mother’s therapy was effective, but the idea for the work was to celebrate “loss, existence, and grief”. In this context, she pulls out threads of Makeba’s biography like flashbacks, and references more broadly to the theme of uprooting and loss today. Although it’s not explicit in the show, Seutin had in mind a additional character, a modern-day Miriam who is a migrant. “And we gather as these alter egos of characters connected to the icon to greet this newcomer.”

Melodies of banishment … musicians in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the venue’s local drink, the skilled performers appear taken over by beat, in synthesis with the players on the platform. Her dance composition incorporates various forms of dance she has learned over the time, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the international cast’ personal styles, including urban dances like the form.

Honoring strength … Alesandra Seutin.

Seutin was taken aback to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the group were unaware about the artist. (She died in 2008 after having a cardiac event on stage in Italy.) Why should younger generations discover the legend? “I think she would inspire young people to advocate what they believe in, speaking the truth,” remarks Seutin. “But she did it very gracefully. She’d say something meaningful and then sing a beautiful song.” She aimed to adopt the similar method in this work. “We see dancing and hear melodies, an aspect of entertainment, but mixed with strong messages and instances that hit. This is what I admire about her. Since if you are shouting too much, people won’t listen. They back away. But she did it in a manner that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be graced by her talent.”

• The performance is at London, 22-24 October