Evy Dally, former presenter of the radio show “Today in Paris” on Africa N°1, tells us of her meeting with Miriam Makeba, best known as “Mama Africa”.

“It was in 1998, I got out of my show and got a call from Saïd Assadi, Miriam Makeba’s manager, who told me that she would make her big ‘comeback’ in France, at the Olympia. ‘Mama Africa’ hadn’t been in France in years. For me, it was a gift out of the blue. There aren’t two Mama Africas!

When I finally received her, I hadn’t slept all night. I was in front of her for a whole hour of live. I called her ‘Mama’ in the African way. Which didn’t miss in creating immediately an emotional link between us.

I reminded myself that she had insisted a lot on the importance of the link between English-speaking Africa and French-speaking Africa. For her, there was just one Africa. That’s what I shall retain of her. Moreover, it was also part of her fights. She was one of the symbols of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa. She was a fighter, she deserved her nickname. She represented all the African women who, facing adversity, kept their dignity, who, in spite of the pain, gathered their families, children...

On stage, she had this vitality, this unique voice, this freshness that concealed her age. She leaves us knowing, I hope, that the fights she led were not in vain. She would have seen Barack Obama’s election in the United States. That can also be seen as an outcome of her personal and collective struggles”.