Start your day with a classic from Sister Letta Mbulu.

Start your day with a classic from Sister Letta Mbulu.

“I saw a woman by the name of Celia Cruz from Cuba. She performed at The Village Gate [Manhattan] after I had performed. I was amazed. I said, “I don’t believe a Cuban woman singing Cuban music and doing what she’s doing, making people stand up,” you know. Another person who helped me to truly understand was Miriam Makeba when I went to see her for the first time at Birdland. When I tell the story a lot of people look at me [as if to say] “No, it’s not possible!” Bill Cosby was curtain raiser for her. There was also Mongo Santamaria; he was the second act of the show – before Miriam. Miriam was the star. I said, “Okay! This is Miriam Makeba. I know this woman.” And when she opened her mouth and performed all those South Afrikan songs, I knew that this, is what I want. I said, “I don’t have to do American music. I can do what I feel.” What I feel! She really liberated me. Two women liberated me. And when I worked with Harry Belafonte, for the thirteen years that I worked with him he said to me “I love what you do, I want you to continue doing it because this make you different from what’s going around the country.” Kissing in the Dark interviews Letta Mbulu.