Africa’s first international music star Miriam Makeba was a brilliant musician as well as an outspoken activist. Mama Africa is a comprehensive biography that pays tribute to her incredible legacy. Forced into exile after starring in the anti-apartheid film Come Back Africa in 1959, Mekeba performed with the likes of Harry Belafonte, Nina Simone and Dizzie Gillespie and married to musician Hugh Masekela and Stokely Carmichael, a radical Black Panther. Director Mika Kaurismaki draws from rare archive footage of over 50 years of performances and candid scenes as well as new interviews with friends and family in this inspiring portrait.
South Sudanese, Toronto based singer, songwriter and poet Ruth Mathiang will perform with Waleed Abdulhamid and participate in a post-screening discussion with Mervon Mehta, executive director of The Royal Conservatory of Music's Performing Arts Division.
Presented with The Royal Conservatory of Music.