Miriam Makeba
E152051
UN goodwill ambassador
actress
anti-apartheid activist
civil rights activist
human
musician
singer
songwriter
Miriam Makeba was a renowned South African singer and civil rights activist, celebrated globally as "Mama Africa" for her powerful anti-apartheid music and advocacy.
All labels observed (3)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Miriam Makeba canonical | 12 |
| Miriam Makeba (1960 album) | 1 |
| Zenzile Miriam Makeba | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1327417 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Miriam Makeba Context triple: [Stokely Carmichael, spouse, Miriam Makeba]
-
A.
Nina Simone
Nina Simone was an influential American singer, pianist, and civil rights activist renowned for her powerful blend of jazz, blues, classical, and soul music.
-
B.
Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist renowned as the "King of Calypso" and a prominent voice in social justice movements.
-
C.
Yvonne Zima
Yvonne Zima is an American actress known for her work as a child performer in films and television, including notable roles in 1990s thrillers and popular TV dramas.
-
D.
Ilyasah Shabazz
Ilyasah Shabazz is an American author, educator, and activist known for her work preserving and promoting the legacy of her parents, Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz, and for writing books on history, social justice, and her family's story.
-
E.
Nomalizo Leah Tutu
Nomalizo Leah Tutu is a South African activist, nurse, and teacher known for her social justice work and as the longtime wife and partner of Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Miriam Makeba Target entity description: Miriam Makeba was a renowned South African singer and civil rights activist, celebrated globally as "Mama Africa" for her powerful anti-apartheid music and advocacy.
-
A.
Nina Simone
Nina Simone was an influential American singer, pianist, and civil rights activist renowned for her powerful blend of jazz, blues, classical, and soul music.
-
B.
Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist renowned as the "King of Calypso" and a prominent voice in social justice movements.
-
C.
Yvonne Zima
Yvonne Zima is an American actress known for her work as a child performer in films and television, including notable roles in 1990s thrillers and popular TV dramas.
-
D.
Ilyasah Shabazz
Ilyasah Shabazz is an American author, educator, and activist known for her work preserving and promoting the legacy of her parents, Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz, and for writing books on history, social justice, and her family's story.
-
E.
Nomalizo Leah Tutu
Nomalizo Leah Tutu is a South African activist, nurse, and teacher known for her social justice work and as the longtime wife and partner of Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (85)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
UN goodwill ambassador
ⓘ
actress ⓘ anti-apartheid activist ⓘ civil rights activist ⓘ human ⓘ musician ⓘ singer ⓘ songwriter ⓘ |
| advocatedFor |
end of apartheid
ⓘ
human rights ⓘ racial equality ⓘ |
| alias |
Mama Africa
ⓘ
Mama Africa ⓘ
surface form:
The Empress of African Song
|
| autobiography | Makeba: My Story ⓘ |
| awardReceived |
Dag Hammarskjöld Peace Prize
ⓘ
Grammy Award for Best Folk Performance ⓘ
surface form:
Grammy Award for Best Folk Recording
Polar Music Prize ⓘ
surface form:
Polar Music Prize (citation/recognition)
Grand Prix du Disque ⓘ
surface form:
UNESCO Grand Prix du Disque
|
| birthName |
Miriam Makeba
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
Zenzile Miriam Makeba
|
| buriedIn |
Johannesburg, South Africa
ⓘ
surface form:
Johannesburg
|
| causeOfDeath | heart attack ⓘ |
| child | Bongi Makeba ⓘ |
| citizenship |
Belgium
ⓘ
Guinea ⓘ South Africa ⓘ |
| collaboratedWith |
Dizzy Gillespie
ⓘ
Harry Belafonte ⓘ Hugh Masekela ⓘ Nina Simone ⓘ Paul Simon ⓘ |
| countryOfBirth | South Africa ⓘ |
| countryOfDeath | Italy ⓘ |
| dateOfBirth | 1932-03-04 ⓘ |
| dateOfDeath | 2008-11-09 ⓘ |
| diedAfter | performing at an anti-mafia concert ⓘ |
| era |
20th century
ⓘ
21st century ⓘ |
| ethnicity | Xhosa ⓘ |
| exiledFrom | South Africa ⓘ |
| genre |
Afro-pop
ⓘ
folk music ⓘ jazz ⓘ world music ⓘ |
| honor | Order of Ikhamanga in Gold ⓘ |
| influenced |
African popular music
ⓘ
global world music ⓘ |
| knownFor |
anti-apartheid activism
ⓘ
civil rights advocacy ⓘ click consonant singing style ⓘ popularizing African music internationally ⓘ |
| languageSpoken |
English
ⓘ
Xhosa ⓘ Zulu ⓘ |
| livedIn |
Belgium
ⓘ
Guinea ⓘ Italy ⓘ United States of America ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| name | Miriam Makeba self-link ⓘ |
| nationality | South African ⓘ |
| notableAlbum |
Makeba! (1963 album)
ⓘ
Miriam Makeba self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form:
Miriam Makeba (1960 album)
Pata Pata (1967 album) ⓘ Sangoma ⓘ The World of Miriam Makeba ⓘ |
| notableWork |
Malaika
ⓘ
Pata Pata ⓘ Qongqothwane ⓘ Soweto Blues ⓘ The Click Song ⓘ |
| occupation |
actress
ⓘ
civil rights activist ⓘ singer ⓘ songwriter ⓘ |
| performedAt | United Nations General Assembly ⓘ |
| placeOfBirth |
Johannesburg, South Africa
ⓘ
surface form:
Johannesburg
|
| placeOfDeath | Castel Volturno ⓘ |
| politicalCause |
anti-apartheid movement
ⓘ
civil rights movement in the United States ⓘ |
| reasonForExile | opposition to apartheid ⓘ |
| spouse |
Bongi Makeba's father (name: James Kubay)?
ⓘ
Hugh Masekela ⓘ Sonny Pillay ⓘ Stokely Carmichael ⓘ |
| subjectOf | documentary film "Mama Africa" ⓘ |
| yearOfExile | 1960 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Miriam Makeba Description of subject: Miriam Makeba was a renowned South African singer and civil rights activist, celebrated globally as "Mama Africa" for her powerful anti-apartheid music and advocacy.
Referenced by (14)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject surface form:
Ferncliff Cemetery
this entity surface form:
Zenzile Miriam Makeba
this entity surface form:
Miriam Makeba (1960 album)
subject surface form:
Zaire 74
subject surface form:
Angélique Kidjo