Miriam Makeba used her voice to entertain, but also to give a voice to millions of oppressed fellow South Africans who suffered as a result of apartheid. The price she had to pay for her actions was high, namely her South African citizenship. After she appeared, in 1960, in the an anti-apartheid documentary Come Back, Africa, the South African regime banned her from returning to her home country and took away her citizenship.
This event didn't stop her from continuing to raise her voice against the apartheid regime. Between 1964 and 1975, as a United Nations delegate of Guinea where she was granted asylum, Miriam Makeba addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations regularly on the tragic developments in South Africa.
Meanwhile she carried on singing, a process in which she put South African music on the map. Over the years Makeba worked with artists as Joe Sample, Stix Hooper, Arthur Adams, and David T. Walker of The Crusaders. In the late 1980's she joined Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mambazo during their world-wide Graceland tour and in 1990 she worked with Odetta and Nina Simone for the One Nation tour.
Following Nelson Mandela's release from prison, the citizen of the world Makeba returned to South Africa in December 1990; more than thirty years after she went in exile. In April 1991 she performed her first concert in her homeland in three decades.
The years after were busy ones for Makeba. She starred in the South African award-winning musical Sarafina! , about the 1976 Soweto youth uprisings, playing the role of the title character's mother. She then reunited with her first husband, trumpeter Hugh Masekela, for the Tour Of Hope. She also performed at the Vatican's Nevi Hall during the world-wide broadcasted show, Christmas In The Vatican. In 2000 Makeba released the grammy-nominated Homeland, her first studio album in a decade. In 2002 she shared the Polar Music Prize with Sofia Gubaidulina, in recognition of her exceptional achievements in the creation and advancement of music.
After her return to South Africa Miriam Makeba recorded over ten albums. In 2004, at the age of 72, she relased Reflections honoring the tenth anniversary of the end of apartheid in South Africa. In that same year Makeba was voted 38th in the Top 100 Great South Africans. She also started a 14 month worldwide farwell tour in 2005, holding concerts in all countries she had visited during her life.
With an impressive career spanning more than four decades Miriam Makeba is, indeed, one of the most respected, loved and cherished treasures in (South) Africa.
On the early morning of 10th of November 2008 she died at the age of 76 after being taken ill near the southern Italian town of Caserta, after performing at a concert against organized crime.
Source: Miriam Makeba, A true South African musical Legend
Discography on last.fm
External links:
Official website
Unofficial website
Movie database
Meet Me at the River
Miriam Makeba Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When the water fall
Caresses rocks on the mountain side
Meet me at the river
Meet me at the river
When the early morning sunshine
Lights up the valley green
Meet me at the river
I'll be waiting in the water
Where the rainbow ends
Meet me at the river
Meet me at the river
Stand up on a rock
And call my name out loud
Meet me at the river
Meet me at the river
It's the sweet and tender words
And open up my heart
Meet me at the river
Meet me at the river
Meet me at the river
Standing on the other side of the river
I'll be waiting to hear your voice
When you tell me everything I've never heard
I've never heard
Meet me at the river
Meet me at the river
Meet me at the river
Meet me at the river
Meet me at the river
Meet me at the river
"Meet Me at the River" is a song by Miriam Makeba that calls out to a lover to meet her at the river. The song is full of imagery and metaphors that symbolize a search for emotional and spiritual connection. The song calls for a natural, romantic rendezvous at the river when the water falls caress the mountain rocks. The singer calls out in earnest to her lover, telling them to meet her where the rainbow ends, which symbolizes the union of the two sides of the river. The rainbow is also an age-old symbol of hope, renewal, and promise, suggesting that the happiness and contentment the singer seeks can be found in their union.
The line "It's the sweet and tender words, and open up my heart" further emphasizes the importance of emotional connection as central to the song’s theme, highlighting that it is the heart-to-heart communication that the singer seeks in the conversation with their lover. Speaking of being on the other side of the river suggests that the singer and her lover are currently separated, and they cling to hope that the reunion will heal their emotional separation. The hopeful chorus of "Meet me at the river" is repeated over and over, as if a magical incantation to make the union happen.
The song refreshingly speaks on the importance of emotional connection and the need to be with someone who understands us perfectly. It conveys the importance of nature and its beauty and how it can be converted into a symbol of hope.
Line by Line Meaning
Meet me at the river
The singer wants the listener to meet them at the river
When the water fall
At the time when the waterfall is flowing
Caresses rocks on the mountain side
When the water flows gently over the rocks on the side of the mountain
When the early morning sunshine
At sunrise when the sun first appears in the sky
Lights up the valley green
When the sunlight illuminates the greenery in the valley
I'll be waiting in the water
The singer will be in the water waiting for the listener to arrive
Where the rainbow ends
At the spot where the rainbow touches the ground
Stand up on a rock
The listener should stand on a rock
And call my name out loud
The listener should call the artist's name loudly
It's the sweet and tender words
The artist is drawn to the listener's kind and gentle words
And open up my heart
The listener's words cause the singer to open up emotionally
Standing on the other side of the river
The artist is on one side of the river and the listener is on the other
I'll be waiting to hear your voice
The singer will be waiting to hear the listener's voice
When you tell me everything I've never heard
The singer is eager to hear new and important things from the listener
Meet me at the river
A repetition of the song title, reiterating the singer's invitation to meet at the river
Writer(s): Hugh Masekela, Stanley Todd
Contributed by Charlie C. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@gambu4810
Mam Mariam Makeba is a tall baobab tree of the central African landscape.
She is a deep-rooted oak tree whose roots draw at the south of the African continent.
She is a green olive leaf in spring time, sun-kissed by the sunrise on the East.
She's a palm tree whose exotic shade casts to the West in sunrise and to the East in sunset.
She's surely somewhere in paradise now making it greener and greener and greener and greener. 🌿
@user-oi4cg4je6j
[Chorus]
(Meet me at the river)
Where the waterfall caresses rocks on the mountainside
(Meet me at the river, meet me at the river)
Where the early morning sunshine lights up the valley green
(Meet me at the river, meet me at the river)
I'll be waiting in the water, where the rainbow ends
(Meet me at the river, meet me at the river)
Stand upon a rock and call my name out loud
(Meet me at the river, meet me at the river)
Whisper sweet and tender words and open up my heart
(Meet me at the river, meet me at the river)
(Meet me at the river)
@scirigab5125
We do love you Mama Africa
Who is still there in 2021 to appreciate that legend...
@GrazetteEF
listening from Barbados
@seonlawrence875
I live in Jamaica and believe me when I tell you when I listen to her sing I can visualize my self in a pass life on the plains in Africa
@dommiek.5025
Who's there in 2020 to listen to this legend Mama Africa.. Your spirit will live forever..
@djbiggal1049
Am here
@clauderukundo592
I am here
@micksolo2912
I'm here. At 2:35 in the mornìng during lockdown in SA. I'm so emotional, because she spoke in my language. Daai is myne daai translatès as That one is mine.
@bethm6587
Me🙏🙏
@stevenhumphrey2665
Wonderful for my love in my heart. Stirred it so very nicely. Thank you.
@ainearsene9277
This was so beautiful. She was not only a wonder singer, but she also had the capacity to put you right where the story was happening, just like watching a movie. She was an authentic performer !!!