MIRIAM MAKEBA PATA PATA 12" Vinyl LP Album

Miriam Makeba, often referred to as “Mama Africa,” was far more than just a remarkable vocalist; she was an enduring symbol of resistance, resilience, and African identity during the tumultuous decades of the 1960s and 1970s. Her music, deeply rooted in the rhythms and traditions of South Africa, transcended borders and language barriers, becoming anthems of hope and unity in the fight against apartheid and global injustice.

The Political Climate of the 1960s and 1970s

The 1960s and 1970s were defining decades for African liberation movements and the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. South Africa’s oppressive apartheid regime, which institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination, was in full force. Makeba, who began her career in the 1950s with The Manhattan Brothers and later the Skylarks, became increasingly politicized after her international career took off. Her exile from South Africa in 1960, following her involvement in the anti-apartheid movement and her appearance in the documentary Come Back, Africa, placed her at the forefront of the global resistance to apartheid.

Makeba’s music from this era was not merely a vehicle for entertainment—it was a rallying cry. Her powerful voice carried the pain of her homeland, and her songs often spotlighted the injustices faced by South Africans. Her rise to international stardom coincided with the growing visibility of the anti-apartheid struggle, making her a key cultural ambassador for the cause.

The Pata Pata Album and Its Context

Released in 1967, Pata Pata was a pivotal album in Makeba’s career. The title track, originally recorded in South Africa in the 1950s, became her most iconic song. “Pata Pata,” meaning “touch touch” in Xhosa, is a lively and rhythmic dance song, filled with joy and energy. However, beneath its infectious melody lies a bittersweet connection to Makeba’s homeland, from which she remained exiled.

The album is not overtly political in its lyrics, but its cultural significance cannot be overstated. By bringing South African music and languages like Xhosa and Zulu to an international audience, Pata Pata served as a form of soft resistance. It was a way to assert the richness and vibrancy of South African culture at a time when the apartheid regime sought to suppress it.

Political Undertones and Makeba’s Influence

While Pata Pata itself is more celebratory than confrontational, its release during the height of Makeba’s activism imbued it with political weight. Makeba had already spoken against apartheid at the United Nations in 1963, calling for global action to end South Africa’s racial segregation policies. Her marriage to civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael (later Kwame Ture) in 1968 also underscored her deep alignment with global struggles for equality.

This political stance had significant consequences for Makeba’s career. After marrying Carmichael, she was blacklisted in the United States, and her record sales and concert bookings plummeted. Despite this, she continued to perform globally, using her platform to advocate for justice and equality. Songs from the Pata Pata album, such as “A Piece of Ground,” carried a more overt political message, reflecting the dispossession and struggles of South Africa’s Black population under apartheid.

The Legacy of Pata Pata and Makeba’s 1960s and 1970s Work

The success of Pata Pata catapulted Makeba to international fame, but it also highlighted her dual role as an artist and activist. The album’s vibrant tracks introduced the world to South African musical traditions, while Makeba’s personal story underscored the struggles faced by her people. Songs like “Click Song Number One” celebrated her heritage, while “A Piece of Ground” subtly criticized colonialism and land dispossession.

Through the 1970s, Makeba remained a staunch advocate for African liberation, performing at events and rallies that supported independence movements across the continent. Her music, while joyful and celebratory, always carried the weight of her identity as a Black South African woman in exile. This duality—hope and resistance—defined her career during these decades.

Under discussion, gentlemen and ladies, is the once-in-a-lifetime sound of Miriam Makeba. Splashy as Victoria Falls. Deep as the Indian Ocean. Hot as a Pretoria cat house. Bright as a diamond mine. Electrifying as the incandescent Makeba personality and presence.

Astronauts and armchair space travelers take note: with this album, Miss Miriam Zenzi Makeba, the darkly divine enchantress from the South African veld, has come up with a full bag of songs that will sock the daylights out of your hi-fi and forever shake from all missile set to cut loose into outer space. The blast-off is on “Pata Pata,” the teasing, tangy, wildly thrilling anthem of the top female recording artist of the southern soil, still spinning its way around the planet Earth. The follow-up shot of Johannesburg, eight short years ago; jumped on a freight train for the seaport cargo Cape of Good Hope, caught a ship, and proceeded to capture the entire U.S. of A. on vinyl. Across the airwaves of radio heaven. And on the body-close intimacy of full-to-bursting concert halls.

A sound that in the three minutes and 38 seconds it takes a diamond stylus to ride the grooves of “Pata Pata” can transport a body half alive, bored, with the status of happiness near Newport to ecstatically dream of in one flip of the two.

For this second outing with Reprise Records (the first, “Miriam Makeba in Concert”), Miss Makeba’s flight is producer Jerry Ragovoy, the talented tastemaker of modern music who went back into the world-wide open cache, phenomenal, Miriam Makeba repertoire with two songs which are bound to become intercontinental standards: “Ring Bell,” big, bright, and bouncy as a fresh-cut Christmas tree, and “What Is Love,” a blushingly baroque orchestration of Makeba, guitar, and strings.

Songs that add to and abet her fabulous fresco of tunes from Apartheidland, Swaziland, and Trogoland – as well as Austria, Israel, Spain, Brazil, Portugal, and beyond.

Strong support for a multifaceted repertoire that knocks down walls, bridges, barriers, and transforms a dozen different languages into a universal tongue.

Miss Miriam Makeba. A trip to the moon on bright feathered wings. The sweetest noise this side of heaven. And the most exciting space age phenomenon since Telstar.

– Hal Halverstadt