Lifestyle

9 Greatest African Innovators in Arts and Sciences

7. Miriam Makeba (1932-2008)

PHOTOGRAPH BY SALVATORE LAPORTA, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Also known as Mama Africa, Miriam Makeba was a Grammy Award-winning singer from South Africa. Her musical style ranged from jazz to Afro-soul to marabi, a type of popular music that originated in the Black townships of South Africa. The first artist from Africa to popularize African music around the world, Makeba was also a civil rights activist and one of the most-outspoken opponents of the apartheid regime. As a result, the South African government revoked her passport in 1960 and three years later denied her the right to return to her country. After 30 years in exile, Makeba was able to return only when the system of Apartheid was dissolved. She died in 2008 of a heart attack, after performing her hit song “Pata Pata” at a concert in Italy organized to take a stand against the Camorra, a mafia-like organization.

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Sandra Appiah

Sandra Appiah is the Chief Operating Officer at Face2Face Africa. She graduated with honors (Summa Cum laude) from the Newhouse School of public communications (Syracuse University, NY) and spent a lot of time in the media industry working with companies such as the New York Times, HBO, and MTV. An avid believer in Africa with an interest in showcasing the glory of the continent, Ms. Appiah is also host of “The Sandra Appiah Show”, an inspirational talk show that chronicles the journeys of Africa’s movers & shakers. Sandra has been listed in Forbes 30 Under 30: Africa’s Best Young Entrepreneurs in 2013. With an incandescent passion matched only by her abundant ambition and prodigious talent, Ms. Appiah has been at the forefront of the mission for this generation of Africans to seize control of tools by which Africa's narrative is curated, crafted, and presented to the wider world.

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