Massive crowds have flocked to a memorial service in Johannesburg, South Africa, for legendary singer Miriam Makeba.
The woman known as "Mama Africa" passed away early Monday after a concert in Italy. She was 76.
Arts minister Pallo Jordan described Makeba as "a woman whose name became synonymous with the worldwide struggle for freedom in South Africa."
"[She] deployed her music as a weapon in the struggle," Jordan told the crowd.
The service at the Coca Cola Dome concert venue on Saturday followed two days of mourning. The family will be holding a smaller cremation service on Sunday.
Mourners began arriving hours before the public memorial service began. About 2,000 people made it into the venue with more hanging about outside. Zindzi Mfundisi, a 20-year-old waitress and aspiring singer, was first in line.
Mfundisi said she once met Makeba before a concert in South Africa. Makeba told her to stick to her studies.
"I know her as a mother, as a caring mother," Mfundisi said. "I love her humanity."
The singer, who spent 30 years in exile after speaking out against apartheid, was the first black singer to win a Grammy award, sharing the trophy with Harry Belafonte in 1965.Mourners attend a memorial service in Johannesburg on Saturday. Mourners attend a memorial service in Johannesburg on Saturday. (Denis Farrell)
She became well-known around the globe for hits such as Pata Pata and The Click Song in which she blended jazz with traditional African sounds and the clicks of her Xhosa language.
Makeba returned to her homeland after Nelson Mandela was freed from prison in 1990.
South African trumpet player Hugh Masekela, one of Makeba’s four ex-husbands, performed a solo version of her song Welele, while poet Maishe Maponya spoke of how her "lips touched our hearts with hymns of beauty."
Former South African president Thabo Mbeki and current Deputy President Baleka Mbete also attended Saturday’s memorial.
President Kgalema Motlanthe, in Washington for a G20 economic summit, paid tribute to Makeba in a video message.
"Let us say it loud and clear. Miriam Makeba was not affectionately called Mama Africa for nothing," he said.
"Her music reverberated with consciousness about the real conditions of South Africans."
Credit: cbc.ca
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