Mama Africa: the image of a South African singer, songwriter and a fierce civil rights activist reduced to the representation by a British-Nigerian actor?
The Road Home is an upcoming a musical drama, set to begin filming in June 2026, with no official release date. It explores Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela during apartheid and their pointed efforts against the regime. Makeba will be portrayed by British actress, Cynthia Erivo and Masekela by South African actor, Thabo Rametsi.
The film is written by the famous South African author, Zakes Mda and is to be directed by Bill Condon, the American director and writer behind the film adaptations of musicals, Chicago and Dreamgirls.
The casting of Erivo to portray Miriam Makeba in the film has sparked quite the conversation, with many contradicting views. Social media users asked how the lived experiences of a black South African Xhosa woman can be reimagined for the big screen by a non-South African? Of particular concern – language. You know, the “Igqirha lendlela nguqo ngqothwane” of it all.
Those concerned about the casting want a seasoned South African professional actress at the helm. There are many examples like Thuso Mbedu, Nomzambo Mbatha, and Bonnie Mbuli to name a few with international silver screen experience. However, in the film and television industry’s eyes, the value of the Xhosa tongue is nothing compared to the power of a global British passport.
While I have nothing but the best wishes for Cynthia Erivo, a talented, multi-award-winning actress with a voice like the harmony of angels. I cannot help but face the uncomfortable truth about how African legacies are portrayed in film and television. Can Erivo truly embody the linguistic and cultural texture of an iconic Xhosa woman like Makeba? A woman who was boldly and unapologetically South African.
To ignore the skills of an actress and singer-songwriter like Erivo would be to disrespect her craft. In her own pedigree, she too is an icon, a powerhouse. Erivo is no stranger to portraying legends in the music industry. One such example is her portrayal of Aretha Franklin in the National Geographic anthology series “Genuis: Aretha” (2021). Receiving an Emmy nomination for her performance.
She ticks the boxes. She will look the part; she will act the part and will most certainly sing the part, but will her singing be a mere imitation? Will she truly be able to fully embrace the South African identity that comes with Miriam Makeba’s songs that were tools to fight injustices during apartheid?
In addition to the cultural texture that accompanies a powerhouse like Makeba is also the language in which Makeba sang: isiXhosa. In her 1963 performance of “Qongqothwane” live on Ce Soir à Cannes, Makeba prefaces the performance by emphasising that the English speaker cannot say the name of the song thus they call it “the click song.” Even then, Makeba chose to proudly embrace her identity and prove that black South African culture mattered.
Miriam was defiant; she was fierce, and she was proudly a black, Xhosa South African woman even in her exile. Her songs weren’t just words on a paper; they were incantations. They were brilliant. They were the representation of the South African nation fighting against discrimination.
This is not about preference for South Africans; it is about having our cultures represented by the very people that speak and live them.
FEATURED IMAGE: Graphic of legendary South African singer Miriam Makeba, taken by Paul Weinberg and Cynthia Erivo at an FYC panel for Wicked in Santa Monica, California taken by Kevin Paul. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
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