The new music video for French singer-songwriter Jain's song "Makeba" is a colourful explosion of South African talent. Featuring work from South African illustrator and graphic designer Karabo Poppy Moletsane and street artist R1, the video also features dancers from a pantsula crew in Soweto, Johannesburg.
Jain spent some time living in the Congo, where she learned to love African beats and rhythmic, danceable melodies. Her album Zanaka is full of fresh, upbeat songs with cross-continental and cross-genre inspiration.
The track “Makeba” touches on politics and is an ode to the South African singer and civil rights activist Miriam Makeba.
“Her voice is part of my childhood,” says Jain on her website. “In Paris I discovered that a lot of my friends knew nothing about her. I found that sad so I wrote the song. The idea was to modernise Miriam Makeba so people my age might search her out. It was the last song I wrote for the album. It’s now the second single in France, so it’s on the radio. But Come is still played a lot too. It’s so funny to hear the song that started this album and the one that finished it, written seven years apart, on the radio at the same time.”
