'Miriam Makeba'

Miriam Makeba -- or Mama Afrika -- was a South African singer, who released her self-titled album in 1960. It was her first.

She'd go for the next four decades releasing 29 albums, in addition to a number of compilation albums.

Miriam Makeba doesn't sound African in the sense that we associate African music, which may be (and probably is) totally distorted.

I thought she was some Caribbean singer or possibly South American. Not that any of these styles or genres aren't totally connected. They are. But the album exudes a very smooth and cool jazz feel straight from the 1960s.

It's easy. Makeba seems to sing loud and strong, and, yet, effortlessly, as if she were ironing a shirt while doing it.

What all these styles and genres have in common are spontanaity and the unpredictable phrasing and singing make it a perfect example of all these varying styles.

Makeba was quite the troublemaker.

After recording an album with Harry Belafonte about the horrors of apartheid in South Africa, Makeba's passport was revoked when she tried to re-enter. For 35 yeras, Makeba would never visit her home country until a free Nelson Mandela invited her back. She also married activist Stokely Carmichael, lived in Guinea and played at the Rumble in the Jungle concert event.

To cap off her political activism, she guested on an episode of "The Cosby Show," one of the more subversive shows in American history.