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miriam makebalatest news & developments
Intentional: Billy Monama quotes Nelson Mandela on the power of
music to elevate and liberate, to unite people in a shared voice.

Billy Monama is staging a revival of memory

The Rebirth of Ubuntu returns with a focus on legacy, as Billy Monama pushes for music that remembers, questions and resonates beyond the stage

Angélique Kidjo is still unstoppable at 65

Angélique Kidjo is still moving the world

The Beninese legend discusses the inspiration behind her latest album HOPE!!, honouring her mother while continuing a decades-long journey of musical exploration and connection

Upward trajectory: Nanette Sphesihle Nobethu Mbili Jolobe has come a long way from Durban where she was born and grew up listening to the R&B legends that would come to influence her later sound. Photo: Supplied

Nanette is going to keep showing up

With a deluxe edition of her latest album on the way and a milestone performance only days away, Nanette is ready to step into the next stage of her ascendancy

Back to love: Judith Sephuma on legacy, music and the long road home

From global stages to intimate performances, Judith Sephuma shares what has sustained her career and what she hopes to build

Salif Keita  celebrates Montreux’s arrival in Africa, urging artists to honour their roots while embracing music as a universal language

Salif Keita: Africa’s golden voice on jazz, legacy and his love of South Africa

The Malian legend celebrates Montreux’s arrival in Africa, urging artists to honour their roots while embracing music as a universal language

Manifestation: A 2024 artwork, titled we wanted to come home, by Hank Willis Thomas.

Layers of meaning

Exploring shared struggles and the power of love, Hank Willis Thomas’s latest exhibition layers American and South African histories into thought-provoking artworks

Township child: Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse will perform at BMW Art Generation Vol III on 30 August at the Nirox Sculpture Park in Johannesburg. Photo: Arthur Dlamini

Hotstix, hot legacy

From Burn Out to BMW Art Generation, Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse remains a cultural giant shaping South Africa’s sound and spirit.

Jazz in focus: The Peffers Fine Art booth at the RMB Latitudes Art Fair in Cape Town

Jazz in focus: Capturing a sound in image

From rare Ernest Cole prints to iconic portraits of Makeba and Masekela, this show captures the musicians and the energy of live music itself

All Hail Angélique!: At the age of 64, the Beninese-French singer-songwriter Angélique Kidjo lives joyfully, performs powerfully and gives relentlessly. Photo: Patrick Fouque

Angélique Kidjo still sings with purpose

The Grammy-winning icon brings joy, power and purpose to the stage — and there’s no sign she’s slowing down

Aluta continua: Wav Gardn (left to right) Kgotso Legare, Katlego Raphathelo, Sisanda Gebe, Moses Shadung and Tumiso Ditinti.

Soundtrack of the struggle

Jazz and activism have long been intertwined, but how does the music speak today?

True blue: Nico Phooko transforms old denim garments into works of art with his signature technique using paint and bleach.  (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Nico Phooko: The music painter who makes art you can wear

Artist blends music and art to transform live performances into spontaneous masterpieces using his signature bleach technique on denim

Princess of Africa: Yvonne Chaka Chakawill be among the performers at the DStv Delicious Festival this weekend. Photo: Cristina Aldehuela/AFP

Yvonne Chaka Chaka to honour Miriam Makeba at DStv Delicious Festival

The singer will pay homage to legendary artists such as ‘Mama Africa’ and Brenda Fassie

Amen: Local musician Zoë Modiga thinks while rankings can be valuable because they are aspirational, they are flawed.

Apple’s not-so-top 100 list: Is it rotten to the core?

The Mail & Guardian asked some of our favourite musicians and critics what they thought of the list and to tell us which three South African albums they believed should be on…

Renowned Sbongile Khumalo inducted Brenda Sisane ‘into that place of women’. Photo: Siphiwe Mhlambi

Women play multiple roles in South Africa’s jazz scene

The visibility of women in jazz has dwindled significantly over the past decade or so. Tseliso Monaheng goes on the search for potential causes

Careers of note: The Mahotella Queens perform in Holland in 1987. (Frans Schellekens/Redferns)

Gallo celebrates 95 years

The history of Africa’s first record label is studded with successes — and controversies

Soweto Tea Party book cover

Telling South Africa’s history to children through books

‘Soweto Tea Party’ is a children’s book that tells the story of Dr Nokuthula Mazibuko Msimang’s childhood, growing up with a father under house arrest

Miriam Makeba performs at the 7th Cape Town International Jazz festival in 2006.

Public protector finds department wasted public funds to remove Makeba trustees

Busisiwe Mkhwebane released a tranche of reports covering a range of allegations, including against the department of arts and culture

Doyenne of the Drum decade: Dolly Rathebe was a pioneer black female celebrity. Photo: Nick de Blois/Gallo Images/Sunday Times

Dolly Rathebe: South Africa’s original black superstar

Dolly Rathebe’s musical legacy is inseparable from the cultural life of Sophiatown.

Detonation: Koleka Putuma’s words breathe easily as the poet delivers them on stage, dressed in a white spacesuit and matching sunglasses. (Manyano Media)

Hullo, Bu-Bye, Koko, Come In shapeshifts into another dimension

Koleka Putuma’s triumphant adaptation allows audience to see stagecraft influence poetry

Dynamism: Koleka Putuma (above), the author of Hullo, Bu-bye, Koko, Come In and Collective Amnesia. Photo: Jarryd Kleinhans

Review: Koleka Putuma brings black women history back into the fold

The poet’s new book does the necessary work of reinscribing women into history, but is it poetry