In the ‘50s, when apartheid was young, South African singer Miriam Makeba was a willowy beauty whose outspokenness made her an unwitting symbol of the fight for freedom.  Her gentle, reedy voice could rise up mightily, filling an oppressed people with her strength.  It also led to her exile from 1960 to 1990.  She went on to become a true world figure, uniting countries in spirit simply by combining their native musics in her shows.

On Reflections, her first new album since 2000, Makeba, now 72, revisits signature tunes – including her first American hit, “The Click Song” – from the mellow perspective of an earth mother sharing wisdom.  As she sings in English, French, Portuguese and her native Xhosa language, that unmistakable voice bears some of the gravel of the tough road she’s traveled.  It’s also tinged with weariness – no surprise, after all her years of carrying that heavy political mantle. 

But politics are barely mentioned here. Makeba has done her fighting, and the recollections on this album are mostly sweet.  She sounds girlish and dewy-eyed on “Love Tastes like Strawberries”; frisky on an update of her 1967 dance hit, “Pata Pata”; maternally reassuring on “Ring Bell,” a ‘60s South African pop anthem that promised better times.  Orchestrally, she deserved better: Her once-spare settings have been pumped up into slick, commercialized Afropop.  But nothing can smother the majesty of Mama Africa, who remains one of the great singers of the world.