South Africans held a public memorial today for Miriam Makeba, one of Africa's best-known voices and a champion of the fight against apartheid during three decades in exile.
Makeba (76), fell ill and died after a concert against organised crime in Italy last Sunday.
About 2,000 people, including politicians, musicians and artists, paid their last respects to Makeba, known as "Mama Africa" and the "Empress of African Song". She was praised as a larger than life figure at the service at the Johannesburg Dome, a top concert venue.
Makeba was the first black South African musician to gain international fame, winning renown in the 1950s for her sweeping vocals. She was loathed by South Africa's white minority rulers.
"Though we shall never see her live on stage again, she will live on in our hearts and she will be immortalised through her beautiful music," South African foreign minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said in an address to the gathering.
Some came in black suits, others in colourful African dresses. Makeba always stressed her African pride through her hairstyles and traditional clothes. Her former husband, South African musician Hugh Masekela, performed at the service.
Makeba spent 31 years in exile after speaking out against apartheid. One of her songs demanded the release of Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years in jail for fighting white-minority rule. She returned home in 1990 on a French passport.
She came from humble beginnings in a shantytown near Johannesburg. The former domestic servant started to sing in her school choir and learned new songs by listening to recordings of American jazz artists such as Ella Fitzgerald.
Mixing jazz with traditional African sounds, Makeba punctuated some songs with the clicks of her Xhosa language, creating classics such as
The Click Songand
Pata Pata.
Makeba won international attention as lead singer for the South African band The Manhattan Brothers. In New York, she worked with Harry Belafonte.
While she won over millions on stage, Makeba's personal life was marred by tragedy. Makeba said her first husband beat her, and she left him after finding him in bed with her sister.
Makeba married American rights activist Stokely Carmichael in 1968 and they moved to the West African country of Guinea, but later split. She was divorced four times.
Reuters