Quote

In New York I heard A Piece of Ground, written by a white South African, Jeremy Taylor. I modified it a little and sang it myself. That song is very special to me because it deals with the land question in southern Africa. We were dispossessed of our land.

Miriam Makeba

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Miriam Makeba
Age: 76 †
Born: 1932
Born: March 4
Died: 2008
Died: November 9
Actor
Recording Artist
Singer
Johannesburg
Gauteng
South Africa
Mama Africa
Zenzile Miriam Makeba
Miriam Zenzi Makeba
Zensile Makeba Qgwashu Nguvama Yiketheli Nxgowa Bantana Balomzi Xa Ufnu Ubajabulisa Ubaphekeli Mbiza Yotshwala Sithi Xa Saku Qgiba Ukutja Sithathe Izitsha Sizi Khabe Singama Lawu Singama Qgwashu Singama Nqamla Nqgithi
Mirjam Makeba
Song
Pieces
Sang
Littles
Deals
Southern
Little
Question
African
Land
Africa
Special
Ground
Dispossessed
Heard
Piece
Jeremy
Written
South
Modified
White
York
Taylor

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But if you are going to wear blinders then you do not know the world.
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I have one thing in common with the emerging black nations of Africa: We both have voices, and we are discovering what we can do with them.
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I'm not a politician I am a singer. Long ago, they said, 'That one, she sings politics.' I don't sing politics I merely sing the truth.
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Be careful, think about the effect of what you say. Your words should be constructive, bring people together, not pull them apart.
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In the West the past is like a dead animal. It is a carcass picked at by the flies that call themselves historians and biographers. But in my culture the past lives. My people feel this way in part because death does not separate us from our ancestors.
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I look at the past and I see myself.
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And I believe that it becomes a troubled continent because there are those who must always cause confusion so that we do not keep these natural resources.
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I see other black women imitate my style, which is no style at all, but just letting our hair be itself. They call it the Afro Look.
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For instance, we're always fighting amongst each other. Who gives us the arms? And then we become indebted to wherever we are buying them from - with what? The very resources we need to keep there.
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He [Belafonte] was a good teacher and looked after me. He said, 'You have such great talent, you must try not to be a tornado - be like a submarine. It was good advice when I found myself speaking at the UN Committee Against Apartheid and then the UN General Assembly.
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I have to go and say farewell to all the countries that I have been to, if I can. I am 73 now, it is taxing on me.
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In those years, when I came to the States, people were always asking me why I didn't sing anymore. I'd tell them, 'I sing all around the world-Asia, Africa, Europe-but if you don't sing in the US, then you haven't really made it.' That's why I'll always be grateful to Paul Simon. He allowed me to bring my music back to my friends in this country.
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Girls are the future mothers of our society, and it is important that we focus on their well-being.
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It's a really unfair world because life is, where I am all day long we listen to American music. So I don't see why the radios in the U.S. cannot even put aside one hour a day just to play music that is not American.
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Age is wisdom if one has lived ones life properly.
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I didn't have much, but I was always happy to share what I did have. It seemed like every African that came to New York City would show up at my apartment door at dinnertime, and I couldn't turn them away. I wasn't much older than any of them, but they started calling me 'Mama Africa' and the name stuck.
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It was hard to be away from home, but I am glad that I am home now.
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