A gripping 100-minute biopic

Perhaps by far the most isolated artist and musician from her original country of birth,

Miriam Makeba left home already a bright star on the rise in the entertainment industry

South Africa, but an icon was yet to be made. Crowned and loved in exile upon the

government refusing her entry to come back in 1959, this gave the goddess freedom to

reign supreme over any challenges, which I feel as a filmmaker draws me to her story. I

too was in exile and we would have a fateful meeting during those periods of ours.

I met Mama Miriam Makeba for the first time at the Jan Smuts Airport in August 1997

on my way back from the Cannes film festival. While standing in the queue for South

African passport holders, I recall asking myself isn’t she in the wrong line, royalty like

her deserve “VVIP”treatment - she shouldn’t have to stand in lines with mere mortals like

the rest of us.

I enthusiastically greeted her, bowing. To my surprise and honour, she returned the

gesture. Before I could ask what she was doing there, she smiled and politely asked me

what it is that I do. Naturally I told her I am a filmmaker, her answer was when are we

going to make my story.

Clearly she wanted to be heard, and no one was listening. I now had the answer: she

was in that line at the airport because of her humanity, her amazing humility demanded

that she be in that line. And indeed- for US to MEET!

We would never explore this further, we likely never even exchanged details, but a few

months later I was introduced right here in Johannesburg to Kwame Ture, aka Stokely

Carmichael, Miriam’s ex husband, who by then had full-blown cancer; there was still a

lot of fire in him.

He went on to encourage me to make films that are going to uplift the race and be

meaningful to the youth of tomorrow, raising his fist up: “ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE.

It’s NOT YET UHURU my brother”, then smiled. Shortly after, that same year, Brother

Kwame made a transition to the next life.

I then got called into SONY Music’s Head of local productions, asking me to produce

the first of its kind, a music video for recently returned back home Hugh Masekela,

which I accepted. All these key moments happened between 1996 - 1997. That is a lot in

one year.

Well, Mama Miriam and I never spoke again for the longest of time, maybe I saw her

perform at a music concert here and there, that was about it. All the vinyl albums that

my mother had of her disappeared - she vanished out of sight. I left South Africa for my

post graduate studies to AFI in Los Angeles and came back home 2005.Our strong spiritual connection would not come back until after I directed Kalushi: The

Story of Solomon Mahlangu in 2014. By then she had ascended to the world of the

Gods. However I crossed paths with Nelson Lumumba Lee, her grandson. Lumumba Lee

lent me a copy of Makeba’s Life Story, his only copy. Yet, no matter how many times I

pursued the film, it never materialised, and eventually I left it behind to focus on making

other stories and projects. Everything went quiet and came to a standstill.

Almost 30 years after encountering Mama Makeba at the airport I get a call from a

close friend and filmmaker - Floyd Webb, whom I met at Cannes just before meeting

Mama Makeba, asking me if I have an interest in directing a documentary about the life

and time of Mama Miriam Makeba. I almost fell off my chair as I thought he was truly

setting me up. Was it April FOOL’s Day?

No it was very real and he introduced me to Paul Russell and Andrea Vogt, the

producers at Millstream Films, and we haven’t stopped talking since then. So this is my

connection to the narrative - I immediately went to Apple Music and played my wedding

song, "A Promise" which Mama Makeba sang, and called my wife, who screamed into

the phone deafening my ear!

I listened to SANGOMA, her last album. I called Reedwan Vally, who published two

books on Makeba, including Come Back Africa. When I got to Reedwan’s office he

couldn’t contain my excitement and the entire office thought I had seen the second

coming. Reedwan himself was mystified, this being a near-decade long reunion between

the two of us.

It turned out that Reedwan’s brother, Mohammed Vally, dealt with the copyright and IP

litigation for Mama Miriam’s estate to gain the music rights that had been in the hands

of Graham Gelfelin, and Mohammed won the case at the instruction of the Department

of Sports Arts Culture. So I believe it is the right time to tell this story and do Miriam

Makeba’s voice justice. The amount of archives that exist globally can be watched for

weeks, months and years to come, BUT her voice has not been heard yet.

And that is what I believe will be the vital challenge for us as filmmakers in curating this

narrative. Immersing ourselves in the archives and revisiting Mama Africa’s steps with

the camera and combing through the FBI files and CIA footage. Why and how did this

humbled woman from South Africa become a threat to the biggest democracy in the

world? Why did the White House and J Edgar Hoover see it necessary to surveil her

activities and whereabouts?

The long-caged bird emerged from a country with the laws of apartheid; that cage gave

Miriam the wings to go tell it to the world and stand up on the high of a mountain

towards bringing FREEDOM to Africans in the DIASPORA by pledging her allegiance to

Black Power. Through song and style, costumes, and her undeniable smile, she

conquered the hearts of many including the United Nations, which gave her the first of

its kind- ambassadorship to speak out against oppression of any kind as an artist.The POV will be Miriam Makeba’s: having waited over 30 years before coming back to

South Africa for a proper film honouring her life means it must be in her own words. The

film will honour her songs by playing them in full so as to hear her VOICE and not let it

be gagged, as she intended them to be heard. The discipline of choice towards the

songs is key. The world of her story will need to live on through the soundtrack -

augmented by other platforms such as podcast, website and social media outlets. The

marketing and distribution of the film will have to be a movement just as Miriam

influenced many movements continentally and globally - that is what her voice deserves -

A LOUD HAILER!

This documentary is a clear protest against the treatment of this Great Woman and

others who have suffered under the capitalist and racist patriarchy that has denied a

platform, access and resources to too many, for too long.

 Research for Miriam Makeba, The Voice of Africa began in 2020 when Millstream Films and Media producers Paul Russell and Andrea Vogt began developing the concept and submitted Freedom of Information Act requests for a huge cache of government files and foreign cables, which revealed shocking surveillance of Miriam Makeba wherever she went in the world. Initial scripts and pitch proposals were prepared. Miriam Productions Ltd was incorporated in October 2022 with Charlie Rapino representing WRM Group and an accord was reached with the Makeba foundation and family, with the participation of Makeba's former manager Roberto Meglioli. Filming began in 2024 with funding from WRM Group, In Bloom production company, and a production grant from the Emilia Romagna Film Commission. 

Filming continued in 2025 as the production collaboration expanded to included Director Mandla Dube and his creative team of editors, cinematographers and production assistants in South Africa; Independent Film Producer Floyd Webb in Chicago; Lorenza Veronica with In Bloom in Italy, and many other dedicated cinema and music professionals helping bring the project to fruition. The producers are honoured to be humbly carrying forward this unique project, global in scope, with a fantastic international team all focused on preserving and bringing to screen Miriam Makeba's story, in her own words.