MIRIAM MAKEBA, the renowned South African singer and anti-apartheid campaigner who was forced into exile for more than three decades, died early yesterday morning after collapsing at a performance in Italy. She was 76.
Known as Mama Africa to her many fans worldwide, Makeba was leaving the stage at a protest concert against organised crime when she had a heart attack. She died soon afterwards at a clinic in the southern Italian town of Castel Volturno.
As the first black South African to win international stardom, Makeba performed alongside the likes of Harry Belafonte, Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie in the US.
Fusing township melodies with jazz ballads, she sang for world leaders from president John F Kennedy to Nelson Mandela, who led the tributes yesterday, describing her as "South Africa's first lady of song".
"She was a mother to our struggle," Mr Mandela said in a statement.
"Her haunting melodies gave voice to the pain of exile which she felt for 31 long years. Her music inspired a powerful sense of hope in us."
Sunday night's concert was to support Robert Saviano, the Italian author who has lived in hiding since publishing Gomorrah, a best-selling exposé of the Camorra gangsters who, among many other crimes, are blamed for killing six African immigrants in Castel Volturno in September.
Makeba's family, noting in a statement that she had performed one of her greatest hits, Pata Pata (the Xhosa words for "touch, touch"), shortly before collapsing, said: "Whilst this great lady was alive she would say: 'I will sing until the last day of my life'."
In South Africa, Makeba was revered as both a singer and anti-apartheid hero, and radio programmes were yesterday flooded with tributes from fans. - ( Guardianservice)