Miriam Makeba: A Narrative of Displacement in the Homelands By Maria Ramirez

By Maria C. Ramirez

A Piece of Ground By: Miriam Makeba

When the white man first came here from over the seas He looked and he said, this is God’s own country He was mighty well pleased with this land that he’d found And he said I will make here my own piece of ground Now many’s the battle he still had to fight Many’s the family that died in the night For many were the black men that lived all around And all of them wanting their own piece of ground Then one fine day in 1883 Gold was discovered in good quantity The country was rich, much richer than planned And each digger wanted his own piece of land Now the white diggers were few and the gold was so deep That the black man was called ‘cause his labor was cheap With drill and with shovel he toiled underground For six pennies a day to tender the ground Now this land is so rich and it seems strange to me That the black man whose labor has helped it to be Cannot enjoy the fruits that abound Is uprooted and kicked from his own piece of ground Some people say now don’t you worry We’ve kept you a nice piece of reserve territory But how can a life for so many be found On a miserable thirty percent of the ground? Yet, some people say now don’t you worry You can always find jobs in the white man’s city But don’t stay too long and don’t stay too deep Or you’re bound to disturb the white man in his sleep White man don’t sleep long and don’t sleep too deep Or your life and your possessions, how long will you keep? For I’ve heard a rumor that’s running around That the black man’s demanding his own piece of ground His own piece of ground

Source: Accueil Paroles Musique

***Note: I want to mention that in no way am I including myself in this narrative as this space is dedicated for black voices and black experiences only.

It’s been 532 years since Europeans “discovered” the sea route around Africa’s southern coast and 528 years since they “discovered” parts of what came to be the “Americas” (Nowell 2018). It’s been 500 years since the start of colonization, the transatlantic slave trade, displacement and mistreatment for Africans and their descendants around the globe (Adi 2012). From the 15th century onwards, enslaved Africans faced discrimination and mistreatment by the white man. To endure this suffering they created “work songs” that were sung in groups. Since they were displaced from their homelands, music reminded them of the land that was once theirs (Greenwood 2004). Work songs were a form of resistance. They passed down narratives of shared lived experiences through singing. Through artists such as Zenzile Miriam Makeba of South Africa, we witness an evolution of these “work songs.” She shares her experience with displacement from her homeland during apartheid in the 20th century. Miriam Makeba was born on March 4, 1932 in Johannesburg, South Africa (Redmond 2013). In 1965, the singer-songwriter, Grammy Award winner and activist rose to fame during the South African apartheid. She sang in her mother tongue Xhosa and various other languages including English, Sotho and Zulu. In 1960 she was exiled for protesting the white minority in power and demanding justice for her community (Ewens 2008). During this time, the Sharpeville Massacre claimed the lives of 69 civilians, including the lives of two of Makeba’s family members (Ambrose 2007). Through fear, the massacre controlled the flow of black South Africans. It prevented them from entering cities and gaining employment. This was an institutionalized strategy to ensure the white minority remained in power.

To understand Miriam Makeba’s music, we explore the historical context through which the “white man” started apartheid. The white man used many methods to stay in power. One was the physical removal of millions of South Africans from their home lands. They kept the black men and women in the lower working class and considered them “cheap labor” for their mining and oil operations. The United States and the United Kingdom played a role in these operations (Summa 1988). Since both countries profited from this labor, they promoted the murders caused by South African apartheid. Miriam Makeba’s song, “A Piece of Ground,” written in 1967, explains the history of the relationship between the South Africans and their land, and the white man who displaced them.

“A Piece of Ground” not only explains the history of how the white man came to Africa, but also how he displaced black South Africans. In lines 17-20, it questions why the “black man” can no longer reap the benefits of lands they once owned. The people native to South Africa held a deep connection to the land they owned because it was a place of communal gatherings. But it was stolen and claimed by the white man. The natural resources mentioned in the song including “gold” influenced the colonists’ mindset. They decided to stay and profit off of South Africa’s people and lands.

As an opera singer with a wide vocal range, she had the ability to roar, hiss, shout, whisper and sing while

making the “epiglottal clicks of the Xhosa language” (The Economist 2008). Songs from Makeba such as “Qongqothwane” or “The Click Song” are prime examples of singing in Xhosa. This form of singing has been described as “reaffirming black pride” (Feldstein 2013, p. 70). By singing in English, Makeba showcases the resistance against the South African government during apartheid. It was resistance for Black South Africans since there were educational barriers preventing many from going to school and learning. That is why most of Makeba’s radical music at the time and any song recorded in English was prohibited in most parts of South Africa (Feldstein 2013). Listeners can hear traditional African djembe (percussion instruments), Latin American rhythms, the Spanish (from Spain) acoustic guitar and Makeba’s ethereal voice all at once in “A Piece of Ground.”

In a 1969 interview, Makeba mentioned that she sings from purely lived experiences. She includes many messages in her songs so people can understand more about her life and her home country. She was asked if she thought that people in countries like Angola, Mozambique, Brazil and the United States shared the same struggles of racial inequality and segregation as the people in South Africa. Her response was, “There is really no difference in the struggle between the people you have mentioned [as in different ethnicities/countries] because we are all Africans. We were just put into different countries by white people who took their people from Africa and spread them out.” She tells us who was kicked out of their native lands and who unjustly kicked them out. She then adds that they have to fight that much harder in order to “liberate” themselves from the chains of oppression in South Africa.

Another important point by Makeba addresses how the white man wrote history versus how black people passed down history. “They [white European colonizers] came, they conquered and they wrote,” she said. She elaborated that the way Europeans wrote history was unjust. They wrote negative things about South Africans and Africans in order to “justify their invasion.” History was “handed down” to people in Africa orally. The people that experienced the invasion or apartheid are the only people who know the truth about that history. The white man will continue to falsely and wrongfully justify his invasion of South Africa and the taking of lands.*

Miriam Makeba is iconic to Americans and plenty of South Africans through her music. Known as “Mama Africa,” she set the tone for protecting her people and dismantling apartheid one song at a time (The Economist 2008). Makeba influenced many modern musicians such as jazz musician Abbey Lincoln, Simphiwe Dana, and French musician Jain (Castledine 2011). Jain released a tribute song titled “Makeba” in 2016. Nelson Mandela referred to her as “South Africa’s first lady of song,” and said “her music inspired a powerful sense of hope in all of us.” Musicians like Makeba have helped many people realize the power in music through messages affirming “this land is ours,” and through the feelings that echo from the chest to the vibrations of drums.

Music moves people and can start revolutions. Luckily, some were fortunate to witness the end of apartheid and the new leadership of Nelson Mandela in the early 1990s (Nkrumah 2004). After almost four decades, Makeba returned to her hometown in South Africa (Nkrumah 2004).

“In the mind, in the heart, I was always home. I always imagined, really going back home.” -Miriam Makeba