Tag Archives: National Women’s Day

Miriam Makeba: From Banned Records to Grammy Winner

Knysna Keep Posted on by

Our soundtrack for our National Women’s Day public holiday is the soothing 1965 sounds of Miriam Makeba and Harry Belafonte. The song ‘Malaika’, above, is sung in Swahili. Makeba had her records banned in South Africa after she testified to the United Nations Committee Against Apartheid in 1963. It was with justice that, 3 years later, she, together with Harry Belafonte, won a Grammy Award for Best Folk Recording for the album ‘An Evening With Belafonte/Makeba’ (from which this song comes). ‘Khawuleza’ and Train Song’ came from the same album.

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Why National Women’s Day in South Africa?

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“National Women’s Day is a South African public holiday celebrated annually on 9 August.   The day commemorates the 1956 march of approximately 20 000 women to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to petition against the country’s pass laws that required South Africans defined as “black” under The Population Registration Act to carry an internal passport, known as a pass, that served to maintain population segregation, control urbanisation, and manage migrant labour during the apartheid era.   The first National Women’s Day was celebrated on 9 August 1994.   In 2006, a reenactment of the march was staged for its … ‘Click here to read full article…’