"Pata Pata" is an Afro-popdance song popularized internationally by South African singer Miriam Makeba. "Pata Pata" is credited to Makeba and Jerry Ragovoy. Her most popular recording of "Pata Pata" was recorded and released in the United States in 1967. The song is considered by many to be Makeba's signature hit and it has since been recorded by many artists.
Origins
The song's title "Pata Pata" means "touch touch" in the Xhosa language, in which the song was originally written and sung. "Pata Pata" was also the name of a style of dance that was popular in the shebeens of Johannesburg's Townships in the mid-1950s. The dancer crouched before his partner and patted her body to the rhythm of the music as he rose up and she spun around, making hip circles. In another version of the dance,
The male dancers stand in a row with their arms extended out to the front, palms to the floor, while the women pat each in turn in a manner resembling security search body-frisking, after which the men do the same to the women.
Makeba's "Pata Pata" was not the only song inspired by the "Pata Pata" dance. Her "Pata Pata" melody was based on an instrumental "Phatha Phatha" by Shumi Ntutu and Isaac Nkosi, which was in turn based on "Noma Kumnyama" by Alson Mkhize. The popular 1956 "Ei Yow Phata Phata" by Dorothy Masuka was distinctly different from Makeba's, but in later years, Masuka made her own recording of the version made popular by Makeba. Masuka claimed that she herself had written it.
Recordings
Makeba's "Pata Pata" was originally sung, recorded, and released in South Africa by Makeba's girl group The Skylarks in 1959. Some sources indicate she had first recorded the song with The Skylarks in 1956. In 1967, after establishing a successful singing career in the US, Makeba re-recorded the song with Jerry Ragovoy producing, and with an added spoken part in English. Ragovoy was then billed as the co-writer of the words and music. It was released in the United States on Makeba's studio album of the same name. It was also released as a single and peaked at #12 on 25 November 1967 on the Billboard chart. The flip side song was Malayisha. This version's English language content includes a description of the origin of the dance:
Pata Pata is the name of a dance We do down Johannesburg way And everybody starts to move As soon as Pata Pata starts to play - hoo
The original version of "Pata Pata" is included on Pata Pata, The Best of the Early Years, a collection of 24 tracks released in 2002 by Wrasse, and the 40-track compilation Her Essential Recordings: The Empress of African Song. In 1988, a duet version with Chayanne was made. It was included in the albumChayanne. In 1990 Makeba re-recorded the song for her own album Welela. Makeba also released a renovated version of the song, entitled "Pata Pata 2000", in her 2000 album Homeland.
Reception
Makeba's 1967 version was successful on the BillboardHot 100, and peaked at No. 12. On the night she died, Miriam Makeba performed "Pata Pata" just before she collapsed on stage. In 2009, Honda used the song in a television commercial for their 2010 Accord Crosstour.
