Mama Africa, Miriam Makeba, has died at 76. To our family she was an icon. We learnt the Click song as children, struggling with the challenges of the clicks, and trying to imitate as closely as possible the complex sounds.
There was a picture of an African lady that hung facing our front door was, in my young eyes, Miriam Makeba. It wasn't her, but when I heard the Click Song I would imagine that picture singing. She now hangs in my older sister Yvonne's house. And next to my front door in Sydney is another wonderful oil painting of an African woman. Sometimes if I listen carefully, I think I can hear her sing too.
The introduction to the song is as potent to me as the extraoardinary clicks throughout the song. From memory, this is what it says:
"In my native village in Johannesburg there is a song we always sing when a young girl gets married. It's called the Click Song by the English because they cannot say QONGQOTHWANE".
Our wedding video opens with Miram Makeba singing the Click Song. The picture pans to Marjorie Mbokoma, a special friend who was our nanny when I was a child. Marjorie was my surrogate mother at our wedding as my parents had both passed away. It is almost as if Marjorie is singing in that DVD.
About ten years ago I watched Miriam Makeba perform. She seemed tired, her voice was scratchy and I think she was not very well. I was horrified that people hurled abuse at her - and even some tin cans. I have had this memory for some time, and I wish I could apologise to her on behalf of those hooligans.
My abiding memory is her dulcit tones and the way those catchy rhythms got us dancing in our lounge. For me she will continue to represent the mama's of Africa. Hamba Kahle, Mama Africa.
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