5 Things to Know About Miriam Makeba's Pata Pata

It was one of the first African pop songs to break into the US mainstream. The song introduced South African music to a global audience during the apartheid era.

Miriam Makeba recorded it in 1967, but the song originally existed in a different form. She first performed “Pata Pata” in the 1950s in South Africa, where it was a local hit.

The title means “touch touch” in the Xhosa language. The lyrics describe a dance where people touch each other lightly.

Makeba was exiled from South Africa for speaking out against apartheid. Her international success with “Pata Pata” gave her a platform to raise awareness about racial injustice.

The song became a global hit, reaching number 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It remains one of the most recognizable African pop songs worldwide.