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“Discussing about Miriam Makeba in the nation, it’s similar to talking about a sovereign,” explains Alesandra Seutin. Referred to as the Empress of African Song, the iconic artist also spent time in New York with jazz greats like prominent artists. Starting as a teenager dispatched to labor to support her family in the city, she eventually served as an envoy for Ghana, then Guinea’s representative to the United Nations. An outspoken campaigner against segregation, she was the wife to a Black Panther. Her rich life and legacy inspire Seutin’s latest work, the performance, set for its British debut.

The Blend of Dance, Music, and Spoken Word

The show merges dance, instrumental performances, and oral storytelling in a theatrical piece that is not a straightforward biodrama but utilizes Makeba’s history, especially her experience of banishment: after moving to the city in the year, she was prohibited from South Africa for three decades due to her opposition to segregation. Subsequently, she was banned from the United States after marrying activist her spouse. The show is like a ritual of remembrance, a deconstructed funeral – some praise, some festivity, some challenge – with a fabulous vocalist Tutu Puoane leading bringing Makeba’s songs to vibrant life.

Strength and elegance … Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the country, a shebeen is an unofficial venue for locally made drinks and animated discussions, often presided over by a host. Makeba’s mother the matriarch was a shebeen queen who was detained for illegally brewing alcohol when Makeba was a newborn. Unable to pay the fine, Christina went to prison for six months, bringing her infant with her, which is how Miriam’s eventful life began – just one of the things Seutin learned when studying her story. “Numerous tales!” exclaims she, when they met in Brussels after a show. Her father is Belgian and she mainly grew up there before relocating to learn and labor in the UK, where she established her dance group Vocab Dance. Her parent would perform her music, such as Pata Pata and Malaika, when she was a youngster, and dance to them in the home.

Melodies of liberation … the artist sings at Wembley Stadium in the year.

A decade ago, her parent had cancer and was in medical care in London. “I stopped working for three months to look after her and she was always requesting the singer. It delighted her when we were singing together,” she recalls. “I had so much time to kill at the hospital so I began investigating.” In addition to reading about Makeba’s triumphant return to South Africa in the year, after the release of Nelson Mandela (whom she had encountered when he was a legal professional in the era), Seutin discovered that Makeba had been a breast cancer survivor in her teens, that Makeba’s daughter the girl passed away in childbirth in 1985, and that due to her exile she could not be present at her parent’s funeral. “Observing individuals and you look at their achievements and you overlook that they are struggling like anyone else,” states the choreographer.

Creation and Concepts

These reflections contributed to the making of the production (first staged in Brussels in the year). Thankfully, Seutin’s mother’s treatment was effective, but the idea for the work was to honor “death, life and mourning”. Within that, she highlights threads of her life story like memories, and nods more broadly to the theme of displacement and dispossession today. Although it’s not overt in the show, Seutin had in mind a second protagonist, a modern-day Miriam who is a migrant. “Together, we assemble as these other selves of personas connected to the icon to greet this newcomer.”

Rhythms of exile … musicians in Mimi’s Shebeen.

In the show, rather than being intoxicated by the shebeen’s home-brew, the multi-talented dancers appear taken over by rhythm, in synthesis with the players on stage. Her choreography includes various forms of movement she has absorbed over the years, including from Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal, plus the global performers’ personal styles, including street styles like krump.

Honoring strength … the creator.

Seutin was surprised to find that some of the younger, non-South Africans in the group were unaware about the singer. (Makeba died in the year after having a heart attack on the platform in the country.) Why should new audiences discover the legend? “I think she would motivate young people to stand for what they are, expressing honesty,” says Seutin. “But she did it very elegantly. She’d say something meaningful and then sing a lovely melody.” She wanted to adopt the same approach in this work. “Audiences observe movement and hear melodies, an element of enjoyment, but intertwined with strong messages and moments that hit. This is what I admire about Miriam. Because if you are shouting too much, people may ignore. They back away. But she achieved it in a way that you would accept it, and hear it, but still be graced by her ability.”

• Mimi’s Shebeen is showing in the city, 22-24 October