She was on the front page of the Sunday Times “Insight” section 2 weeks ago. The caption said something about this being her last tour before she retires - and since she’s been performing for just on 50 (spending around 30 of them in exile) years I felt it was my patriotic duty to see her. Andrew thought I was just plain crazy. So, this past Mondayy night, Lynd and I went and saw her at the Civic. Mz Makeba only came on after interval and until them we were treated to music by the MIAGI orchestra (Music Is A Great Investment, ha ha). The first words she said when she came on stage were (very slowly, in her style): “Much has been written about ‘Makeba Quits!’ You should not listen to them so much. All I said was this was my last tour before my retirement - then I’ll start the first tour of my retirement! There are people all over the world to whom I need to go and say ‘Thank you.’” Not bad for a woman who’s 73…

She sang really well (duh) and there were a few interesting moments as the orchestra conductor tried to hold together a jazz band, an orchestra (with 3 (!) double basses) and the vocalists - mostly succeeding (and at least one moment of audience hilarity). Awesome to see a true South African legend in concert.