# RIP Miriam Makeba **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 10, 2008, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-miriam-makeba/472019 "2008-11-10T11:07:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-miriam-makeba/472019/1 "2008-11-10T11:07:18Z")
[NYT](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/world/africa/11makeba.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin) > [@](#): > > Miriam Makeba, a South African singer whose voice stirred hopes of freedom among millions in her own country though her music was formally banned by the apartheid authorities she struggled against, died early Monday after performing at a concert in Italy. She was 76. Even her name was music. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-miriam-makeba/472019/2 "2008-11-10T11:16:27Z")
Even though she didn’t consider herself a political singer, sometimes an artist can make more of an impact than a politician. Quite a life. ---
**Author:** ![Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petrobey_Mavromihalis)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-miriam-makeba/472019/3 "2008-11-10T11:52:16Z")
She was a class act. ["Our colonizers call it _The Click Song"_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mwh9z58iAU) I grew up with her records being played around the house. A sad day but a life to celebrate. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-miriam-makeba/472019/4 "2008-11-10T12:48:48Z")
Oh MAN!! - after Mandela himself, and maybe Tutu, it’s hard to think of a more iconic South African ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petrobey_Mavromihalis)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-miriam-makeba/472019/5 "2008-11-10T13:03:32Z")
On the celebration side it ought to be one hell of a funeral parade. Will it be in Jo’burg? Two memories: My parents playing their recording of [King Kong](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Kong_(musical)) over and over. Her performance on the Rumble in the Jungle documentary _When We Were Kings_ when she seems to summon up the very spirit of Mother Africa - scarily beautiful. I never got to see her live. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-miriam-makeba/472019/6 "2008-11-10T13:13:57Z")
Wikipedia is updated already - these intarwebs is fast!! I imagine that the funeral will be upcountry - that’s where she was born. Grim ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-miriam-makeba/472019/7 "2008-11-10T13:48:43Z")
I know it’s shallow, but I can’t help but wonder what Madam & Eve are going to do. I check in on them from time to time; I’ll be looking in again for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-miriam-makeba/472019/8 "2008-11-10T14:07:43Z")
I shall do a round of Pata Pata in her honor. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-miriam-makeba/472019/9 "2008-11-10T14:23:02Z")
> [@](#): > > …died early Monday after performing at a concert in Italy Performing until the very end. Wow, what a legend. She brought more attention to apartheid by being exiled and not allowed back into South Africa than she would have if they’d kept her from leaving the country in the first place. Thank you stupid and short-sighted bureaucrats! Thank you for the music Miriam. You were one of a kind. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-miriam-makeba/472019/10 "2008-11-10T16:31:50Z")
> [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](#): > > She was a class act. > > ["Our colonizers call it _The Click Song"_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mwh9z58iAU) > > I grew up with her records being played around the house. A sad day but a life to celebrate. Me, too. She sang at a concert that Harry Belafonte held at Carnegie Hall and did the “Click Song”. It was made into an album that my mother, a rabid Belafonte fan, owned, and would play constantly, to the point that I memorized all the songs involuntarily. We had a missionary from South Africa stay with us for a couple of weeks. He spoke Xhosa (or whatever the language of the “Click Song” was). My mother, in all innocence, played the song and asked him to translate. I never saw a black man turn white before. Apparently the lyrics are not what a missionary in the '60s would care to describe to the naive, middle-aged white American housewife who is his hostess. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-miriam-makeba/472019/11 "2008-11-10T20:38:56Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > I shall do a round of Pata Pata in her honor. A-hihi ha mama, hi-a-ma sat si pata pata… “Pata Pata” is the name of a dance … we do down Johannesburg way. And everybody … starts to move … as soon as “Pata Pata” starts to play - hoo … ---
**Author:** ![bathsheba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@bathsheba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bathsheba)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-miriam-makeba/472019/12 "2008-11-10T21:25:41Z")
Heyamama! ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-miriam-makeba/472019/13 "2008-11-10T22:35:14Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > We had a missionary from South Africa stay with us for a couple of weeks. He spoke Xhosa (or whatever the language of the “Click Song” was). My mother, in all innocence, played the song and asked him to translate. > > I never saw a black man turn white before. Apparently the lyrics are not what a missionary in the '60s would care to describe to the naive, middle-aged white American housewife who is his hostess. On either the Belafonte recording or at the NY concert, Miss Makeba did say that it was a wedding song – apparently sung by the village women to the bride. It never struck me that it might be a bit, shall we say, earthy until I read the above. She was a tremendous entertainer and a strong voice against apartheid. A strong woman and a good cause. A generation is passing. Pray that we do not forget them and all they did. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-miriam-makeba/472019/14 "2008-11-10T22:45:17Z")
> [@Spavined\_Gelding](#): > > On either the Belafonte recording or at the NY concert, Miss Makeba did say that it was a wedding song – apparently sung by the village women to the bride. It never struck me that it might be a bit, shall we say, earthy until I read the above. Makeba mentions this on the Belafonte album. I gather from the circumlocutions employed by our guest that it is a description of the events of the wedding night. Any Doper care to confirm or deny? I did some Googling, but I cannot either confirm or deny. ---
**Author:** ![Merhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Merhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merhouse)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-miriam-makeba/472019/15 "2008-11-11T01:33:02Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > A-hihi ha mama, hi-a-ma sat si pata pata… > > “Pata Pata” is the name of a dance … we do down Johannesburg way. > And everybody … starts to move … as soon as “Pata Pata” starts to play - hoo … I just had to buy that MP3 today. Amazing song. Amazing woman. ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-miriam-makeba/472019/16 "2008-11-11T01:58:04Z")
☹ ☹ ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petrobey_Mavromihalis)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-miriam-makeba/472019/17 "2008-11-11T07:56:20Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Makeba mentions this on the Belafonte album. I gather from the circumlocutions employed by our guest that it is a description of the events of the wedding night. > > Any Doper care to confirm or deny? I did some Googling, but I cannot either confirm or deny. The lyrics of the Click Song (sorry for sounding like a colonizer!) are pretty benign, but also obscure. There are various translations that I can find, all variations on a theme. Wikipedia, for example, has: _The diviner of the roadways is said to be the knock-knock beetle It has passed up the steep hill, the knock-knock beetle_ These are the only two lines. If it’s rude, then it’s pretty metaphorical! Pata Pata, on the other hand, is fairly raunchy. Of course it’s ostensibly about a dance, but we all know what she’s really talking about: _I want you to bend your back and then I bend my knees. We do the pata pata we just rock it steady we glue on together like the bee’s to honey_ Unfortunately Pata Pata doesn’t seem to appear on any Belafonte / Makeba album that I can find. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-miriam-makeba/472019/18 "2008-11-11T10:27:43Z")
There’s nothing rude about _Qongqothwane_. It really is about a beetle (probably a darkling beetle). I’m not a fan of Makeba’s style of music, but it’s still a sad day for SA & world music. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-miriam-makeba/472019/19 "2008-11-11T13:00:15Z")
Why is it a wedding song? ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-miriam-makeba/472019/20 "2008-11-11T14:10:53Z")
> [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](#): > > The lyrics of the Click Song (sorry for sounding like a colonizer!) are pretty benign, but also obscure. There are various translations that I can find, all variations on a theme. Wikipedia, for example, has: > > _The diviner of the roadways is said to be the knock-knock beetle > It has passed up the steep hill, the knock-knock beetle_ > > These are the only two lines. If it’s rude, then it’s pretty metaphorical! > > Pata Pata, on the other hand, is fairly raunchy. Of course it’s ostensibly about a dance, but we all know what she’s really talking about: > > _I want you to bend your back and then I bend my knees. > We do the pata pata we just rock it steady > we glue on together like the bee’s to honey_ > > Unfortunately Pata Pata doesn’t seem to appear on any Belafonte / Makeba album that I can find. Completely different translation given for the Click Song at [this Zambian site](http://www.knet.co.za/transkei/clickson.htm). > [@](#): > > This song was made famous by Miriam Makeba and incorporates all the different tongue clicks typical of the Xhosa Language. There are only 2 lines to the song which are repeated and roughly translated they mean: > > The Witchdoctor, who is a black beatle (repeated twice) > is coming to be in our village (repeated twice) > > THE WORDS > > Igqira lendlela nguqo ngqotwane > Igqira lendlela nguqo ngqotwane > > Igqira lendlela nguqo ngqotwane > Igqira lendlela nguqo ngqotwane > > ubeqabe legqithapho ahi uqo ngqotwane > ubeqabe legqithapho ahi uqo ngqotwane > > ubeqabe legqithapho ahi uqo ngqotwane > ubeqabe legqithapho ahi uqo ngqotwane > > Igqira lendlela nguqo ngqotwane > Igqira lendlela nguqo ngqotwane > > Igqira lendlela nguqo ngqotwane > Igqira lendlela nguqo ngqotwane > > Words and music by The Manhatten Bros, sung by Miriam Makeba [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-miriam-makeba/472019.md?page=2)