The man at the desk took my passport. He did not speak to me. He took a rubber stamp and slammed it down. Then he walked away. I picked up my passpor… - Miriam Makeba

Everywhere I performed in Brazil, I never saw black people. I only performed to white people. And they (the white people) said it's because they (the black people) can't afford to come here - it's too expensive. That is another form of keeping them from coming to where they can enjoy themselves together with white people. They keep them poor.

I'm not a political singer. I don't know what the word means. People think I consciously decided to tell the world what was happening in South Africa. No! I was singing about my life, and in South Africa we always sang about what was happening to us — especially the things that hurt us.

That was the only time my mother saw me on stage. At one point in the play I am strangled and my mother jumped from her seat and screamed: 'No. You will not get away with murder. You cannot do this to my daughter.' Friends explained to her that this was not for real — that we were acting. But she made such a fuss. Everyone was so embarrassed. On stage my heart sank.