"Touche Touche": this is the meaning of "Pata Pata" in Xhosa, a southern African language. And if everyone knows this song, hit of the summer of 1967, it had little interest in the eyes of its author, Miriam Makeba, who did not wait for its success to become a symbol of the fight against -apartheid.
The first black woman to receive a Grammy Award, Miriam Makeba wrote "Pata Pata" in 1956, almost ten years before singing it. In her twenties, she survived on odd jobs, before joining a group, the Manhattan Brothers. The artist then took advantage of this exhibition to raise his voice and denounce apartheid, established in 1948 in his country, South Africa.
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Forbidden to stay in your own country
Because of her commitments, Miriam Makeba will be banned from staying in her own country for more than thirty years. However, "Pata Pata" does not evoke any political struggle, no commitment. The song only talks about… dance. "Pata Pata is the name of the dance we do here in Johannesburg" she sings. "And people start to move, as soon as Pata Pata starts playing."
Miriam Makeba, however, made history with her struggle and with other of her engaged songs. In 1965, when Malcolm X was assassinated, Miriam Makeba paid tribute to him in music. She sings of tolerance, peace, equality and also salutes Patrice Lumumba, an independence figure from the Belgian Congo, also murdered.
Miriam Makeba will therefore have enjoyed worldwide success with "Pata Pata" but will remain above all a woman of conviction, who will have marked the history of Africa.