Makeba Touched My Heart
Mar 04, 2004
It had been a while since I last enjoyed a live concert, and that dates back to the end of year (2003) at Speke Resort Munyonyo, when Jamaican sensation Shaggy performed for a capacity audience.
By Denis Jjuuko
in South Africa
It had been a while since I last enjoyed a live concert, and that dates back to the end of year (2003) at Speke Resort Munyonyo, when Jamaican sensation Shaggy performed for a capacity audience. It is not long if you are one person who goes out once in a blue a moon. In the recent years I have been a man who attends concerts everywhere including the Monday Musician’s Club when it gets down once a month to the Kaloli Gardens. I have been attending those live jazz performances at The Venue. So It has been a while given the fact that I also missed some of those Valentine performances from the likes of Maddoxx Ssematimba Ssemanda. I have been a little bit hungry. And the reason responsible for my live concert hunger is my relocation to a small town in South Africa, the place I now call home and so it will be for the next year.
I got a lifeline on Saturday February 21, when I got a lifetime chance of watching the legendary Miriam Makeba perform. It would have been shameful had I spent all these months in the home of Makeba without attending a concert of one woman whose music echoed in my ears when I was still a little boy. Her music always played on the family cassette player. And I guess other Ugandan families always enjoyed it. The 72-year-old South African who has basically won everything any musician can dream of, was the special guest performer as Rhodes University launched its centenary celebrations. After performances from the local jazz bands from Grahamstown, the musician who had been awarded an honorary doctorate the previous day to perform. What a great artiste! She touched my heart as she kick-started the show with some of her all time great songs such as Sangoma and Umhome. She received a standing ovation from the students. Though she sung a number of songs whose lyrics I could not understand, I was overwhelmed by the live instrumentation. It sounded natural and real and the local Xhosa girls just went wild vigorously twisting their waists from one side to another. They could not ask for more. I was in a group that included most of East Africans. We were a couple of Ugandans (Andrew Kanyegirire, Margaret Jjuuko, Milly Kalyabe, Julius Buwule) and a number of others from Kenya and Tanzania. When she played Malaika, a rapturous applause followed. I do not know the number of times I had heard this song, but this was my maiden time to hear it live. Though I do not speak Swahili, Malaika in my local language means angel and I knew the song was morally okay to listen to. She looks 10 years younger than her actual age. She still pulled out a couple of strokes. She is still very energetic and this explains how she managed to spend over an hour entertaining us. However, she took a break to show her political side. After taking a swipe at the hard cores who still have tendencies of apartheid, she urged unity among all South Africans. May be she had to do so as the rainbow country is currently preparing for the April presidential elections. After introducing two of her grandchildren who are part of her multi-national band, she sung Pata Pata from her top selling 2001 Mama Africa album (though Pata Pata dates back to the late 1980s).
I saw people enthusiastically reacting to it, but it was one of the last songs she performed. After she had left the stage, it was time to marvel at some of the greatest fireworks to mark the launch of the celebrations of Rhodes University’s 100 years of existence.
Ends
in South Africa
It had been a while since I last enjoyed a live concert, and that dates back to the end of year (2003) at Speke Resort Munyonyo, when Jamaican sensation Shaggy performed for a capacity audience. It is not long if you are one person who goes out once in a blue a moon. In the recent years I have been a man who attends concerts everywhere including the Monday Musician’s Club when it gets down once a month to the Kaloli Gardens. I have been attending those live jazz performances at The Venue. So It has been a while given the fact that I also missed some of those Valentine performances from the likes of Maddoxx Ssematimba Ssemanda. I have been a little bit hungry. And the reason responsible for my live concert hunger is my relocation to a small town in South Africa, the place I now call home and so it will be for the next year.
I got a lifeline on Saturday February 21, when I got a lifetime chance of watching the legendary Miriam Makeba perform. It would have been shameful had I spent all these months in the home of Makeba without attending a concert of one woman whose music echoed in my ears when I was still a little boy. Her music always played on the family cassette player. And I guess other Ugandan families always enjoyed it. The 72-year-old South African who has basically won everything any musician can dream of, was the special guest performer as Rhodes University launched its centenary celebrations. After performances from the local jazz bands from Grahamstown, the musician who had been awarded an honorary doctorate the previous day to perform. What a great artiste! She touched my heart as she kick-started the show with some of her all time great songs such as Sangoma and Umhome. She received a standing ovation from the students. Though she sung a number of songs whose lyrics I could not understand, I was overwhelmed by the live instrumentation. It sounded natural and real and the local Xhosa girls just went wild vigorously twisting their waists from one side to another. They could not ask for more. I was in a group that included most of East Africans. We were a couple of Ugandans (Andrew Kanyegirire, Margaret Jjuuko, Milly Kalyabe, Julius Buwule) and a number of others from Kenya and Tanzania. When she played Malaika, a rapturous applause followed. I do not know the number of times I had heard this song, but this was my maiden time to hear it live. Though I do not speak Swahili, Malaika in my local language means angel and I knew the song was morally okay to listen to. She looks 10 years younger than her actual age. She still pulled out a couple of strokes. She is still very energetic and this explains how she managed to spend over an hour entertaining us. However, she took a break to show her political side. After taking a swipe at the hard cores who still have tendencies of apartheid, she urged unity among all South Africans. May be she had to do so as the rainbow country is currently preparing for the April presidential elections. After introducing two of her grandchildren who are part of her multi-national band, she sung Pata Pata from her top selling 2001 Mama Africa album (though Pata Pata dates back to the late 1980s).
I saw people enthusiastically reacting to it, but it was one of the last songs she performed. After she had left the stage, it was time to marvel at some of the greatest fireworks to mark the launch of the celebrations of Rhodes University’s 100 years of existence.
Ends