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allAfrica.com
 Miriam Makeba,
the South African singing star whose career took off in the 1950s and
who famously appeared at the United Nations to condemn apartheid, has
died suddenly after a concert in Italy. She was 76.
Makeba,
widely known as Mama Afrika, collapsed on Sunday as she was leaving the
stage in the town of Castel Volturno, near Naples, according to a
statement issued on Monday by South African foreign minister Nkosazana
Dlamini Zuma. "She received paramedic assistance and was rushed to
hospital where she unfortunately passed way," Dlamini Zuma said.
News agencies reported that she appeared at a
concert to support an Italian journalist being threatened by the local
mafia. In September, six African immigrants were killed in the town
when gunmen from the mafia sprayed a group of immigrants with gunfire
in an alleged drug-dealing dispute.
Dlamini
Zuma paid tribute to Makeba as "one of the greatest songstresses of our
time... Throughout her life, Mama Makeba communicated a positive
message to the world about the struggle of the people of South Africa
and the certainty of victory over the dark forces of apartheid
colonialism through the art of song."
Makeba
has been described as Africa's first superstar. She first rose to fame
professionally with the Manhattan Brothers in the early 1950s, and
subsequently travelled abroad to perform the lead female role in the
musical, King Kong. She was promoted by Harry Belafonte in the United
States, becoming best known to general audiences for her hits "Pata
Pata," "The Click Song" (Qongqothwane) and "Malaika."
She
was at one stage married to Stokely Carmichael and lived for some years
in Guinea. She was stripped of her South African citizenship after
becoming an anti-apartheid icon and returned home only after the
release of Nelson Mandela from prison.
In
recent years, she has been a "goodwill ambassador" for South Africa and
for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
In March this year, she highlighted the plight of woman victims of
sexual violence during a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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