RhoDeo 1407 Roots

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There can be few artists who have produced as many good albums throughout the late 70's, 80's and 90's as today's artist, whether with Juluka or later with Savauka. He is one of the best writers and performers of the last 20 years in any popular music form. ....N'joy

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Johnny Clegg, born in Rochdale, England 7 June 1953 was raised in his mother's native land of Zimbabwe before emigrating to South Africa at the age of nine. By the age of 10 he had fallen in love with African, and in particular, Zulu, music. His first memories of Zulu music are of hearing street performer Mntonanazo, who performed frequently in his neighbourhood. At the age of 14, Johnny began to learn to play the guitar. Through his interest he met Charlie Mzila, a Zulu flat cleaner who played street music near Clegg's home. For two years Johnny learned the fundamentals of Zulu music and traditional Zulu Inhlangwini dancing with Charlie. Equipped with his guitar, Johnny accompanied Mzila to all the migrant labor haunts; from hostels to rooftop bars.

Later, while reading social anthropology at Wits University, Clegg formed a friendship with a migrant worker and musician named Sipho Mchunu (b. 1951, Kranskop, Natal, South Africa), and in 1972 the two began performing together as Johnny And Sipho, forming their first band, the sextet Juluka (Zulu for ‘sweat’) in 1976. They quickly developed an innovative fusion of fierce mbaqanga rhythms and universally appealing pop melodies. While most Africans responded with great enthusiasm to the sight of a white man immersing himself in Zulu music, the reaction of white South Africans was by and large hostile, and Juluka were engaged in a running battle with the authorities. They suffered from racist abuse, threats of violence and then an extreme shortage of available venues in a country where multi-racial gatherings were, to all practical purposes, forbidden.

Overcoming all these obstacles, the band scored their first hit with the single ‘Woza Friday’ in 1978, by which time they had built up a national following through their formidably powerful live appearances, which included wholly convincing displays of traditional Zulu indlamu (foot stamping) dancing by Clegg. They also succeeded in persuading the authorities to allow them to tour overseas, and in the early 80s performed in the UK, Europe and the USA, where their 1982 album Scatterlings, was released in 1984. During their lifetime, the group recorded seven albums, including the acclaimed debut Universal Men, a musical journey through the life of a Zulu migrant worker, before breaking up in 1985, following Mchunu’s decision to leave Johannesburg and the music business and return to the bush to run his family’s small cattle farm (1985 also brought a European Top 40 hit with ‘Scatterlings Of Africa’).

In 1986 Clegg re-emerged fronting a new group, Savuka (‘We Have Arisen’), which continued in the direction set out by Juluka and, in the increasingly liberal political climate of South Africa in the late 80s, found it much easier to tour both there and overseas. Clegg’s solo career had been launched in 1985 with Third World Child, but it was an album of the same name recorded by Savuka which became an international success, selling over a million copies. A sold out tour of France followed, before stints in the USA and Canada. In the process he became one of the first African stars to appear on The Johnny Carson Show. The 1989 recording Cruel, Crazy Beautiful World saw Clegg upgrade the band’s sound in a modern Los Angeles studio, though his lyrical concerns about South Africa, brilliantly extolled in ‘Woman Be My Country’ and the title track, remained undiluted.

Clegg recorded one further album with Savuka, 1993’s Heat, Dust And Dreams, which was informed by the ending of the apartheid system in South Africa and the assassination of former band member Dudu. Briefly reunited with Mchunu in the mid-1990s, Clegg reformed Juluka and toured throughout the world including a tour of the USA in 1996, on which King Sunny Ade was the opening act.

Clegg and his band often make an international tour during May–August (South African winter). However, the tours are usually limited to France and surrounding countries. In June 2004, Johnny Clegg toured North America for the first time in over eight years, doing 22 concerts in one month. Even though they had no albums for sale in North America during those eight years, and no significant media coverage, they filled most of their venues.

Clegg returned to North America with his band in July 2005, with dates booked throughout the U.S. and Canada. His new album One Life was remixed at Real World Studios in Bath, England, and released on October 30, 2006 in the UK. Clegg and Band toured Europe and North America in 2011 to a combined audience of 35,000. He has also announced that he will play in Western Sahara city of Dakhla, which has caused a campaign of rejection, as that concert is considered as a support for Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara. Clegg toured North America in 2012 and one venue in France to a combined audience of 70,000. In 2013 Clegg continues to tour with a stripped-down, storytelling version of his concerts. Johnny Clegg told Eyewitness News that he's developing a musical based on his life story and an autobiography is in the pipeline.

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Third World Child is studio album by South African artist Johnny Clegg and his band Savuka, released in 1987 and produced by Hilton Rosenthal.Incorporating both Zulu and English lyrics, as well as political songs, it was the album which led Clegg to international fame. All songs were written by Johnny Clegg, except for Giyani in collaboration with V. Mavusa.

The song "Great Heart" was covered by Jimmy Buffett a year after its release for his album Hot Water.
"Asimbonanga (Mandela)" is an anthem already adopted by Joan Baez and others, while the title tune devastatingly discusses what it's like to be asked to "walk in the dreams of the foreigner."

Johnny Clegg and Savuka - Third World Child (flac  253mb)

01 Are You Ready? 4:03
02 Asimbonanga (Mandela) 4:51
03 Giyana 4:33
04 Scatterlings Of Africa 3:52
05 Great Heart 4:24
06 Missing 4:21
07 Ring On Her Finger 4:08
08 Third World Child 4:16
09 Berlin Wall 4:28
10 Don't Walk Away 4:24

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A nice album of pieces, with almost lilting vocals coming from lead singer Johnny Clegg, from time to time almost reminiscent of some mixture of Dylan and Springsteen. The guitar work seems slightly influenced by reggae, which wouldn't be too surprising given the half-South African membership of the group. Heat, Dust And Dreams released in 1993, produced by Hilton Rosenthal, co-produced by Bobby Summerfield, received a 1993 Grammy Award nomination for Best World Music Album.

The album would be the final work of the band Savuka. It was made in honor of member Dudu Zulu, who had been assassinated in the last years of the apartheid. Most songs of album are heavily influenced by the end of this dark period of South African history. "These Days", "When the System has Fallen", "In My African Dream" and "Your Time Will Come" all express hope for the future, while songs like "The Promise" and "Foreign Nights" talk of the problems people still have to face. It is the only Savuka album to receive the same degree of critical acclaim as the Juluka albums such as Universal Men, African Litany, Work for All and Scatterlings. With Clegg's blessing, "The Crossing (Osiyeza)" was covered for the 2009 film Invictus.

Johnny Clegg and Savuka - Heat, Dust and Dreams (flac 347mb)

01 These Days 4:55
02 The Crossing (Osiyeza) 4:56
03 I Can Never Be (What You Want Me To Be) 4:00
04 When The System Has Fallen 4:46
05 Tough Enough 5:11
06 The Promise 4:38
07 Inevitable Consequence Of Progress 4:44
08 In My African Dream 4:33
09 Emotional Allegiance (Stand By Me) 4:23
10 Foreign Nights (Working Dog In Babylon) 4:00
11 Your Time Will Come 4:44

 
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There can be few artists who have produced as many good albums throughout the late 70's, 80's and 90's as Johnny Clegg, whether as Juluka or in his later incarnation as Savauka. This anthology includes some of the best from both bands. Great tracks like Impi which combine a wonderful chorus with gripping factual story line about the defeat of a British Regiment by the Zulu army in 1881. It also has one of the truly great tracks of all time "Scatterlings of Africa". If not his manifesto (which was established long before his international fame), it makes his point, the mixing of rock and Zulu music, quite succinctly and wonderfully -- and he was doing it long before it became fashionable (indeed, while it was illegal under South Africa's apartheid laws). You can't say this is a perfect best-of, by any means, but it does include the lovely "Take My Heart Away" and "Great Heart," which would later be covered by Jimmy Buffett. The a cappella version of "Dela" highlights the gorgeous harmonies in a manner similar to Ladysmith Black Mambazo, while "Asimbonanga (Mandela)" is a tribute to the man who would be South Africa's new leader, and a real hero. So, with seminal Clegg material like "Waza Friday" and "Impi," it's  a very decent collection. Johnny Clegg & Savuka were always about more than the music, however; they put it together politically, too, a huge act of defiance that was reflected in the lyrics and sound. As the man said, think and dance.

Johnny Clegg , Juluka and Savuka - Anthology   (flac  520mb)

Johnny Clegg & Juluka
01 Universal Men 4:51
02 Impi 4:47
03 High Country 4:33
04 Woza Friday 4:07
05 Scatterlings of Africa 5:37
06 Bullets for Bafazane 3:57
07 Nans' Impi 3:23
08 Kilimanjaro 3:42

Johnny Clegg & Savuka
09 Orphans of the Empire 5:21
10 Great Heart 4:23
11 Take My Heart Away 4:16
12 Dela 4:26
13 Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World 4:27
14 The Crossing 4:58
15 Africa (What Made You So Strong) 3:37
16 Asimbonanga (live) 4:43
17 Hambile/The Dance (live) 5:55

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