Quote by Miriam Makeba: “Music can change the world because it can change people.”

Political and social change requires people to see things differently — to feel something shift inside them. Music reaches places that speeches and arguments cannot. If a song can change how someone feels about themselves or another person, it has already begun the work of changing the world.

Makeba began performing internationally in the early 1960s, the same period she was stripped of her South African citizenship and passport for her anti-apartheid activism. The African independence decade was underway, and she used her platform to bring global attention to conditions in South Africa.

South African singer and civil rights activist known internationally as 'Mama Africa.' Exiled from South Africa after speaking out against apartheid, she performed at African independence celebrations and testified before the United Nations about apartheid in 1963. Her song 'Pata Pata' brought African music to global audiences.