I have been watching re-runs of The Cosby Show on YouTube for the past two weeks or so and I happened to watch episode 10 of season 8 titled ‘Olivia Comes Out of the Closet’ featuring the late musical great Miriam Makeba aka. Mama Africa (1932-2008).
I remember watching this episode years ago. I was young and clueless. Seeing Miriam Makeba for me, was like seeing someone like Whitney Houston on The Cosby Show. I was just excited seeing a singer I listened to, on a show I loved. I didn’t understand the true meaning of her presense. Watching the episode today made me realise how significant the episode would have been then and how it is now – telling people that the Africa they see on TV is not all there is too Africa. The message is beautifully entwined towards the end of the episode when Makeba s describing her homeland. I felt I was in the moment of her recollection!
‘….the sparkling lakes of Tanzania flowing through Uganda straight into Malawi where the green of Mozambique flows into the Zambezi. To the Drakensberg Mountains and the valley of a thousand hills. To the long sandy coast where the warmth of the sun says goodbye to us each day’.
Theo Huxtible (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) responds with ‘Wow! You speak with such eloquence and passion about the beauty of Africa. We don’t see that when we watch TV or read the newspapers’.
The punch line by Mama Africa ……. ‘That’s because that is all you are shown!’