01.08.2019
Lifestyle / 24 April 2017, 10:58pm / Mpiletso Motumi https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/lifestyle/johnny-clegg-to-hang-up-his-guitar-after-40-years-8802114
Johnny Clegg is more than just one of this country’s finest musicians and entertainers.
He is a national treasure who has brought together
all South Africans and reminded us of what makes us great as a country.
These were the words of Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa on the man who helped
unite South Africans through his musical storytelling.
Now, nearly 40 years after Clegg began his remarkable career, the icon is doing
his final dance on the world stage.
The Final Journey is the name of Clegg’s last world tour, which will see him
bring his illustrious career to an end in Cape Town, Joburg and Durban before
heading to London and Dubai for the international leg of the tour.
In 2015, Clegg was diagnosed with cancer. While undergoing treatment he
continued to tour locally and internationally, with a nine-week tour in the US
and Canada last year.
The Asimbonanga hitmaker is in remission and has decided to perform a final set
of concerts to thank his fans for their support over the years.
“I am immensely excited to be able to bring to them an autobiographical,
audiovisual and intimate account of my life through my music,” he said.
The tour will be built around Clegg’s distinctive repertoire of songs, which
began with the release of Juluka’s Universal Men in 1979 and continued through
the Savuka years and his more recent solo work, said Real Concerts in the
official statement.
The Grammy-nominated artist and recipient of several doctorates and orders,
including the South African Order of Ikhamanga, will take his fans through a
musical journey of dance and song that had, and still has, social, political and
cultural impact in the country to this day.
Clegg’s hits, including Impi, Great Heart and African Sky Blue, and live
favourites will be brought to life through the biggest production ever created
for a Clegg live show, supported by his live band.
Clegg starts The Final Journey on July 1 with a show at the Grand Arena at the
GrandWest Casino in Cape Town. This will be followed by two performances in
Fourways on July 7 and 8 at the Teatro at Montecasino. He will then move on to
the Durban ICC Arena on July 29.
The international leg of the tour will start in London on August 19 at the
Eventim Apollo and then move on to the Dubai Opera House on September 20.
Guest artists will include the Soweto Gospel Choir, and as the tour unfolds
there will be special surprises for audiences.
While this will be his final public performances, his manager and promoter,
Roddy Quinn, said Clegg would continue to write – working on his autobiography –
and to record music for his new album. He is also expected to take part in some
private engagements.
Booking for the South African dates of Clegg’s Final Journey World Tour opened
today. Ticket prices start from R375.
Additional South African and international dates are set to be added later in
the year.
KwaZulu-Natal / 25 April 2017, 08:01am / MPILETSO MOTUMI https://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/kwazulu-natal/exclusive-johnny-clegg-announces-final-world-tour-8806646
Johnny Clegg’s hits including Impi, Great Heart and African Sky Blue will be brought to life in the biggest production ever created for a Clegg live show. Picture: Fadel Senna
Johannesburg – Johnny Clegg is more than just one of
this country’s finest musicians and entertainers. He is a national treasure who
has brought together all South Africans and reminded us of what makes us great
as a country.
These were the words of Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa on the man who managed
to unite South Africans through his musical storytelling.
Now, nearly 40 years after Clegg began his remarkable career, the South African
music icon is set to do his final dance on the world stage.
The Final Journey is the name of Clegg’s final world tour that will see him
bring his illustrious career to life in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban
before heading to London and Dubai for the international leg of the tour.
In 2015 Clegg was diagnosed with cancer. While going through treatment he
continued to tour locally and internationally with a nine-week tour in the US
and Canada last year.
The Asimbonanga hitmaker is in remission and has decided to perform a final set
of concerts to thank his fans for their support over the years.
“I am immensely excited to be able to bring to them an autobiographical,
audiovisual and intimate account of my life through my music and The Dance,” he
said.
The tour will be built around Clegg’s unparalleled repertoire of songs which
began with the release of Juluka’s Universal Men in 1979 and continued through
the Savuka years and his more recent solo work, Real Concerts said in the
official statement.
The Grammy-nominated artist and honoree of several doctorates and orders
including the Order of Ikhamanga will take his fans through a musical journey of
dance and song that has impacted, and continues to impact, the country socially,
politically and culturally.
Clegg’s hits including Impi, Great Heart and African Sky Blue will be brought to
life in the biggest production ever created for a Clegg live show, supported by
his live band.
Clegg starts The Final Journey on July 1 with a show at the Grand Arena at the
GrandWest Casino in Cape Town followed by two performances in Johannesburg on
July 7 and 8 at the Teatro at Montecasino. He will then move on to the Durban
ICC Arena on July 29.
The international leg of the tour will start in London on August 19 at the
Eventim Apollo and then follow on to the Dubai Opera House on September 20.
Guest artists include the Soweto Gospel Choir, and as the tour unfolds there
will be special surprises for the audiences.
While this will be his final public performances, his manager and promoter Roddy
Quinn said Clegg would continue to work on his autobiography, record music for
his new album and take part in some private engagements.
FLASHBACK: Remember this awesome moment:
Booking for the South African dates of Clegg’s Final Journey World Tour open
today (April 25). Tickets start from R375.
Additional South African and international dates are set to be added later in
the year.
Johnny Clegg: The Final Journey World Tour first phase dates:
July 1 – Grandwest Arena, Cape Town
July 7 and 8 – Montecasino, Johannesburg
July 29 – Durban ICC Arena, Durban
August 19 – Eventim Apollo, London
September 20 – Dubai Opera, Dubai
mpiletso.motumi@inl.co.za
The Star
Entertainment / 29 April 2017, 11:18am / Kevin Ritchie https://www.iol.co.za/entertainment/life-and-music-is-a-journey-for-johnny-clegg-8864919
Johnny Clegg says when he discovered Zulu dancing and the warrior culture in his teens, his life changed, and it helped him shape himself. File picture: Antoine de Ras/Independent Media
Johnny Clegg talks to Kevin Ritchie about his world
changing at the age of 15, his cancer, and his "autobiographical" final tour.
In January, Johnny Clegg came face to face with his own mortality. This week he
announced his Final Journey tour to bid goodbye to his South African fans in
eight weeks, followed by concerts in London and Dubai.
He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on April 8, 2015, four days later he was
under the surgeon’s knife for a Whipple operation that excised part of his
stomach, his pancreas, his duodenum and gall bladder and then, in Clegg’s words
“put them back together”.
The 63-year-old music icon was lucky; only 15% of patients with pancreatic
cancer qualify for the operation.
Clegg was put on a round of chemotherapy and carried on with his busy life;
delighting fans across the world with his unique brand of music and
story-telling.
Six weeks after the op, he was performing live at the launch for the Springbok
World Cup jersey – but on a stool. He would miss only two gigs throughout chemo.
“Nobody knew. I carried on with my life. I was strong, I wasn’t suffering from
the side effects. We decided not to make a fuss,” he said this week.
But in March last year, when he returned from touring the US, his doctors
detected an uptick in his tumour count. No one was concerned. Then the tumour
count doubled the next month. He was put on a second round of chemo for six
months.
“They warned me,” Clegg says, “it’s like an atomic bomb, five different
solutions pumped into my body. It’s so powerful you can only have two treatments
a month.”
He was told there would be massive side effects – on his legendary energy levels,
his ability to concentrate, his digestion. Except it didn’t.
On December 31, he finished his show and sent his oncologist footage of him
leaping about the stage, dancing like a dervish. The oncologist messaged him
saying he couldn’t believe him. And then reality struck.
He was laid low for the whole of January this year as everything he had been
warned about hit him with a vengeance. When he emerged, it was time to talk,
honestly and frankly with his team.
“This chemo guarantees a year of suppressing the cancer, we’ve got a window.
They said to me, 'you don’t want to be in a space in two or three years where
you don’t have the energy to say goodbye in a two-and-half hour show.’
“I overhead my driver telling his friends in Zulu, ‘my brother has lots of white
ants trying to eat him inside and the hospital is trying to spray him with Doom.’
It’s a brilliant metaphor.”
Clegg is chipper; thinner, gaunter, but his eyes burn with passion. There’s no
sign of the rigours he’s undergone. The price has been steep. Neuropathy has
been one of the side effects. The chemo has been killing his nerve endings.
“I can’t feel my fingers, I have to look at the fret board to see where my
fingers must go. If I press too hard the note would go sharp. I feel like I’m
walking on someone else’s feet.”
So, he spoke to his oncologist and the medication was changed. The feeling is
returning to his fingers and he’s trying out the old dance steps in his garden.
“It’s super concentration, but each week I’m getting stronger. I’m in the gym,
I’m eating well.”
He’s looking forward to the Final Journey. He laughs at the term, “it’s kind of
final, isn’t it?”
It’s a farewell to his fans and 40 years of performing but not to life, not by
any means. Being diagnosed with cancer was a shock, he admits, a time to take
stock.
“There’s a Zulu saying that translates as ‘this has arrived on my plate and I
must eat it’. It’s life. It’s a brand new journey. Talking to Sipho (Mchunu, his
long-time collaborator from Juluka) also took me out of self-obsessing ."
The Final Journey tour starts at Cape Town’s Grand West on July 1, moving to
Joburg the next weekend for two shows on July 7 and 8 at Montecasino and then
down to Durban’s ICC Arena at the end of July. He’s scheduled to perform at the
Eventim Apollo in London on August 19 and then the Dubai Opera House in late
September, with dates for Europe, the US and Australia still to be added.
“It’s going to be an autobiographical show,” Clegg explains, “it’s like flipping
through a family photograph book, sharing a life, it’s not a commercial
presentation.”
He’s shaped generations of South Africans with his music. The Springboks run out
onto the pitch for every Test match to the sounds of Impi, his 1981 hit single,
while Asimbonanga, his1988 hit, is a perennial favourite for documentaries about
Nelson Mandela, but neither of them are his favourite tracks.
A case in point is The Crossing/Osiyeza, written in memory of his Savuka
collaborator and long-time Zulu dance partner Dudu Ndlovhu, who was tragically
gunned down while trying to mediate in a KZN taxi war.
“It’s a song about a life taken prematurely – now when I sing it, it’s ironic,”
he says. Then there’s his other hit Cruel Crazy, Beautiful World, written when
his son Jesse was born, or Dela, a love song about two lovers torn apart.
As he prepares for the tour dates, he’s also looking beyond to after the Final
Journey. He might be stopping performing, but he won’t be lying down either,
there’s his autobiography to get into shape, there are all the books he’s never
had time to read and greater involvement in his other business, electronic waste
recycling.
“We’ve got a factory in Midrand and branches in Pinetown and PE, we’re about to
open in Cape Town. We recycle everything down to the smallest circuit board. I’m
a businessman and an entrepreneur and this business fulfils the needs of my
activist juices, being involved in something for the greater good of all. At the
same time, there’s a chance to make a greenbuck,” he laughs.
“I’ll still keep writing music, I’ve got five new tracks I’m working on and will
release slowly. I’ll probably do sound tracks for movies and documentaries. I’ll
be open to small projects that take my fancy.”
Most of all though, he’ll concentrate on enjoying every day.
“In this frantic rush of modern life one is always trapped in what has to be
done in the future and my future is a question mark so I kind of don’t really
look at that with such intensity any more. Each day for me is a special thing.
“I had no ambitions as a young person, I just had an incredible curiosity. I
never thought when I was growing up in the streets of Joburg, ducking and diving
from the police with Sipho or with Charlie (Mzila, the man who taught him guitar)
that a band would emerge out of this and I would have a musical career. I saw
myself as an anthropologist who’d be working and getting a salary, teaching and
discovering other cultures in a very secluded intellectual environment. “A lot
of what happened to me was the consequence of choices. I made the right choices
but not for the reasons people suspect. I never did Zulu street guitar to make a
political statement I wasn’t politically conscious at the age of 14, I fell in
love and it became a massive musical detective story on a hunt to discover the
roots of it.
“When I discovered Zulu dancing that changed my life. At the age of 15 the whole
new world of a warrior culture unfolded. The songs, the words, the movements,
were a gift.
“My ambitions were to become an African, but not in the sense of an Afrikaner
who is also an African. I – a white person born outside Manchester in the UK –
wanted to find my own personal road and in that darkest of times I discovered an
African migrant community that was so happy to have a white kid dancing in the
hostels that they accelerated my urban adventure into a tribal world.”
Today, the success of that transition has become vital in how he deals with
overcoming and living with cancer.
Saturday Star
News / 20 June 2017, 9:53pm / Staff Writer https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/news/johnny-cleggs-finale-touring-a-very-hard-lifestyle-9891195
LAST TOUR: Nearly 40 years after he began one of music’s most remarkable careers, Johnny Clegg is embarking on his Final Journey World Tour, but will go on making music. Picture: Henk Kruger
Johnny Clegg says he might be hanging up his
gumboots but he won’t stop making music.
Clegg, 64, is in the city to promote his Final Journey World Tour, which comes
to the Grandwest Arena on June 30 and July 1.
Yesterday, he reminisced on his start with Juluka and their struggles when it
came to performing their music live in the early 1970s.
On his final show, Clegg said it was a “summing up of my career” which is
autobiographical and features videos with historical footage with pictures of
people who shaped his life.
“Juluka, Johnny Clegg, Savuka all of that was really prefigured in my adolescent
years. A few people, Zulus and other people that I met, (the) music that I heard,
the idea that cultural music was important. I was very influenced by that idea,”
said Clegg.
He was diagnosed with cancer in 2015 and underwent chemotherapy treatment but
throughout this he has continued to tour locally and internationally,
undertaking a nine-week tour of the US and Canada last year
“I want to hang up my boots after this (tour) and probably go into giving talks
and lectures. I will continue recording, putting out music (but) the days of
five shows a week for 10 weeks in a row are now over,” Clegg said.
He says the music business is tough, adding that there are numerous “rock * roll
widows” on the road.
“It’s that very hard lifestyle. One has to make a real effort to keep family
together. Keep everybody feeling that they’re all on the same bus.
“My wife (Jenny), after we did our 1990 nine-month world tour, left the tour six
months in, she said ‘this is not a life’. We went through a rocky period and
then she said ‘I can deal with three months a year but then you must divide it
up’, we worked on that principle,” said Clegg, saving his 29-year marriage.
He and his band were at the height of their fame in 1988 and 1989 when
Scatterlings of Africa and Asimbonanga successively went to Number 1 on the
French pop charts.
“I had number 1 album and number 2 album in the Top 10 album sales. It was
ridiculous,” said Clegg.
He says humility has kept him grounded, and that at the height of his fame he
was not into parties or the celebrity lifestyle.
“I came from a pretty conservative background, especially from my mom’s side. I
was a serious artist.
“I wasn’t out to pull chicks. I’m trying to get a conversation between Western
and African music, that was my mission and people (in the apartheid government)
didn’t want to hear it,” he said.
* Tickets for the South African dates of Clegg’s Final Journey World Tour are
available through Computicket.com or by calling 083 915 8000.
The Star / 21 June 2017, 12:56pm / Staff Reporter https://www.iol.co.za/the-star/clegg-set-for-cape-farewell-9901060
LEGEND: Johnny Clegg feels it's time to hang up his gumboots.
Johnny Clegg says he might be hanging up his
gumboots but he won't stop making music.
Clegg, 64, is in Cape Town to promote his Final Journey World Tour which takes
to the stage of the GrandWest Arena on June 30 and July 1.
Yesterday, he reminisced about his start with Juluka and their struggles when it
came to performing their music live in the early 1970s.
Of his final show, Clegg said it was a “summing-up of my career” which is
autobiographical, featuring videos with historical footage with pictures of
people who shaped his life.
“Juluka, Johnny Clegg, Savuka - all of that was really prefigured in my
adolescent years. A few people, Zulus and other people that I met, (the) music
that I heard, the idea that cultural music was important. I was very influenced
by that idea,” said Clegg.
He was diagnosed with cancer in 2015 and underwent chemotherapy treatment but
throughout this he had continued to tour locally and internationally,
undertaking a nine-week tour of the US and Canada in 2016.
“I want to hang up my boots after this (tour) and probably go into giving talks
and lectures. I will continue recording, putting out music (but) the days of
five shows a week for 10 weeks in a row are now over,” Clegg said.
He says the music business is a tough business and that there are numerous “rock
'* ' roll widows” on the road.
“It's that very hard lifestyle. One has to make a real effort to keep family
together. Keep everybody feeling that they're all on the same bus.
“My wife (Jenny), after we did our 1990 nine-month world tour she left the tour
six months in, she said ‘this is not a life’. We went through a rocky period and
then she said ‘I can deal with three months a year but then you must divide it
up’. We worked on that principle,” said Clegg, saving his 29-year marriage.
He and his band were at the height of their fame in 1988 and 1989 when
Scatterlings of Africa and Asimbonanga successively went to No1 on the French
pop charts.
“I had No1 album and No2 album in the Top 10 album sales. It was ridiculous,”
mused Clegg.
He says humility has kept him grounded and that at the height of his fame he was
not into parties or the celebrity lifestyle.
“I came from a pretty conservative background, especially from my mom's side. I
was a serious artist.
“I wasn't out to pull chicks. I was trying to get a conversation going between
Western and African music, that was my mission, and people (in the apartheid
government) didn't want to hear it,” he said.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/africas-white-zulu-johnny-clegg-bids-fans-goodbye-032543439.html
Sibongile KHUMALO - Agence France-Presse - June 30, 2017
South African musician Johnny Clegg, known as "the White Zulu", talks to AFP as he heads out on his final tour (AFP Photo/MUJAHID SAFODIEN)
Johannesburg (AFP) - After nearly four decades of foot-stomping music that challenged South Africa's apartheid regime and promoted racial reconciliation, Johnny Clegg -- known as "the White Zulu" -- is heading out on his final tour.
On Friday, Clegg starts his global farewell tour with a concert in Cape Town before playing other South Africa venues and then on to London, France, Dubai, the United States and Canada.
The 64-year-old, who is famed for his multi-ethnic collaborations, told AFP that the decision to bring down the curtain on live performing came after he was diagnosed with cancer in 2015.
"It has been a rewarding career in so many aspects... to be able to unite people through song, especially at a time where it seemed impossible," he said.
"I want to give my fans some kind of conclusion... (showing) that the journey I started when I was 14-years-old is coming to an end now.
"My shows are very physical, a lot of dancing, and I have to be strong to do that."
Clegg's cancer is in remission after he underwent chemotherapy.
"I would like to present a final farewell while I am still capable of doing it," he added during an interview in Johannesburg.
Clegg said that the "Final Journey Tour" would be an autobiographical trip through his musical career since he was a boy.
It is a journey that saw him endure harassment from apartheid police under white-minority rule, when he was targeted for playing with black musicians.
In contrast, his music -- and activism -- attracted a worldwide fanbase that packed venues such as the Royal Albert Hall in London and across France, where he remains a huge national star.
- Evading race laws -
Clegg's fascination with Zulu dance and melodies began in the dingy blacks-only migrant workers' hostels in Johannesburg in the 1960s -- where he sneaked in to join traditional dancers.
He secretly rehearsed with dance troupes though his presence as a white person was outlawed by apartheid.
"We had to find our way around a myriad of laws that prevented us from mixing across racial lines," he remembers.
He turned professional in 1979 when his mixed-race band Juluka released the album "Universal Men".
Its blend of Western pop with Zulu melodies, concertina and guitar made him a symbol of anti-apartheid opposition and endeared him to his earliest fans."The people were intrigued by our music," he said.
His band also used Zulu humming, choral singing styles and energetic foot-stomping traditional dance.
"The humming gives it a very strong connection to the land and the people," he said.
He credits the 1982 song "Scatterlings of Africa" as the tune that catapulted him and his band to stardom as it topped charts in France and England.
"Nobody knew exactly what the music was about, but something about Africa," he said.
- Mandela tribute -
When the song "Asimbonanga" -- Zulu for "We have not seen him" -- was released in 1987, it was banned by South African authorities.
The song paid tribute to Nelson Mandela -- then in jail -- and was outlawed because any reference to the anti-apartheid leader was illegal.
Today the song is a popular anthem for modern South Africa.
Clegg's cross-cultural work led to his arrest on several occasions for contravening race segregation laws, while his concerts were often halted by police.
"We couldn't perform in public spaces... so we identified private areas like churches and other non-racial enclaves that had emerged to bypass racial laws," he said.
"My life was caught up in the experience of apartheid at the very base level of migrant workers."
The British-born artist, who arrived in South Africa as a seven-year-old boy, stressed that his defiance of racial laws and interest in Zulu culture was not motivated by politics.
"I wasn't politically motivated, I was culturally motivated. I love the music and the dance. I love the language," he said.
Clegg has sold over five million records and was in 1993 nominated for the Grammy Award for Best World Music Album.
The trained anthropologist, who used to lecture at Johannesburg's Wits University, is writing his autobiography and said he will still make music but will no longer perform in public.
Opinion / 3 July 2017, 2:16pm / Murray Williams https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/opinion/shooting-from-the-lip-bye-bye-african-rain-and-sky-man-10110519
Johnny Clegg has recorded and performed with his bands Juluka and Savuka during the most trying times in our country's history.
"We were only kids. And Johnny Clegg’s music became the soundtrack of our lives,"
writes Murray Williams.
Cape Town - "One day I looked up and there you were; like a simple question,
looking for an answer.”
I first heard his voice on the back of an old Datsun bakkie with four blood
brothers.
It was 5am, the early ‘80s. Delivering pamphlets, with the urge to vote “no” to
the racist, divide-and-rule tricameral Parliament.
The blue paintwork on our old skorokoro was faded. But the black-and-white
sticker on the back was clear: “All God’s beaches for all God’s people.”
We were only kids. And Johnny Clegg’s music became the soundtrack of our lives.
Much like the USA’s Bruce Springsteen, Clegg’s a storyteller. He and Sipho
Mchunu’s weaves were sewn on the streets of Joburg, the epicentre of that
monstrous ill: migrant labour. They sang of our “African litanies” – our
Struggle against poverty, oppression, violence, apartheid. And how we coped, as
humans.
“The warrior’s now a worker and his war is underground; With cordite in the
darkness he milks the bleeding veins of gold; When the smoking rock face murmurs,
he always thinks of you; African sky blue.”
Back home, a child was “keeping the home fires burning, while papa’s out earning
the pittance he calls his pay”.
In another dry valley: “An old lady walking down the dusty farm road; Looking
for a simple home; She’s old and she’s bent, her eyes can hardly see; And she’d
lost everything she ever had to lose; So she picks up her walking stick and puts
on her car-tyre shoes…”
A continent ripped apart by war: “Will this be the end of the rain and the birds?”
Clegg’s songs carried both pain and resilience, like the “Kwela Man, singing
under the street light; With a cheap guitar, he gave his sorrow a smile”.
In time, RSA’s stories became interwoven with our own. A world seen through “Old
Eyes”.But he also sang of hope! “African sky blue, your children wait for the
dawn; soon a new day will be born; African sunshine, soon you will warm your
children’s eyes.”
He cried: “Sing me the songs that taste of freedom; Liyeza, ilanga lami seliyeza
(It’s coming, my day is coming).”
And he danced. The Western suit is an everyday straight-jacket. Deliberately
designed to constrict excessive expression, to keep its captive on the straight
and narrow. To make absolutely sure, the neck-tie strangles the sorry soul into
guaranteed submission.
Zulu stick-fighting and dance, by contrast, are a language the whole body speaks.
“Dedela umoya, wami Baba (Set my spirit free, Father).”
Now he’s facing a new struggle, the fight to survive.
It’s tempting to say, as the “copper sun is sinking low”: “Where did the time go?
Can you tell me where did your life go?”
But I’d prefer to say, instead:
“Johnny Clegg: I burn for you.”
By Kevin Smokler | July 7, 2017 | 2:45pm
https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/07/10-essential-johnny-clegg-songs.html
Johnny Clegg is the voice of transition in South Africa. The product of an English father and Rhodesian mother, Clegg co-founded apartheid South Africa’s first multiracial band, Juluka, in 1979, when doing so was a criminal act. With Juluka, its successor Savuka (which means, “they have risen” in Swahili) and as a solo artist since 2002, Clegg has paired Zulu rhythms and vocals with succinct pop melodies borrowed from British new-wave with a social consciousness that echoed American and British folk music. Despite harassment and arrest, his sound—joyous, multicultural and principled like the end of a spear—filled venues and represented a nation opening itself to the rest of the world.
Clegg’s popularity peaked in the early and mid-1990s—after Graceland, but before the beginning of a new sociopolitical South Africa. It meant touring with likes of Paul Simon, George Michael and Steve Winwood, late night TV appearances in America and, at one point, being as popular as Michael Jackson in France.
But after 13 albums and 40 years of music and dance, Clegg announced his retirement this year. His 2015 diagnoses of pancreatic cancer has returned and, in order to spend his remaining time with family, he has embarked on one last world tour he is calling The Final Journey (which began last week and arrives Stateside in October). While it’d be easy to call Clegg’s music an artifact of an era, his knighthoods in three countries, half-dozen honorary degrees and being declared a national treasure in his homeland prove otherwise. These 10 songs are essential to understanding the musical and cultural weight of a man who remains, as David S. Coplan describes in his book In Township Tonight: South Africa’s Black City Music and Theatre, “a remarkable example of what can be done despite apartheid and of what might be possible without it.”
1. “Woza Friday”
This tight working-for-the-weekend number concluded Juluka’s third album, 1982’s
Ubuhle Bemvelo (Natural Beauty). Composed entirely of Zulu
traditional songs, “Woza” is the album’s rare track with an English chorus, a
stabbing thumb in the eye of apartheid cultural prohibitions on South Africans
of different races speaking each other’s language. The shimmering guitar riffs,
deep bass choruses set a template Clegg would both stick with and remix
throughout his career. “Woza” the band’s first hit single, is its coming out
party.
However, that engaging melody and rhythm hides the song’s depths of pain and loneliness. “I Call Your Name” is a song about missing someone (or their music), written a few short years after the end of Juluka. It’s vintage Clegg—arms outstretched, danceable, polymorphic—and represents his version of “Someday We’ll Be Together” or “Have You Ever Seen the Rain,” whatever your favorite song about the band breaking up is.
3. “Impi”
Clegg wrote this tale of the military victory of Zulu warriors (“Impi” means
“war” or “formation of soldiers”) over the British at 1879’s Battle of
Isandlwana for Juluka’s second album, African Litany, in 1982. Styled,
perhaps deceptively, like the short story of a traditional western folk song,
the Jim Croce-esque guitar gets pushed to the background by the marshal
background chant and stomping of feet. Today, “Impi” is frequently sung at South
African sporting events, especially when the opponent is England.
4. “Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World”
The title track from Savuka’s third album came just as South Africa’s apartheid
system heaved its dying breaths. Within a year,
Nelson
Mandela would be released from prison and within three, share the Nobel
Peace Prize with the man who freed him, South African President F.W. De Klerk.
During this time, Clegg would reunite his first band Juluka for an album and
tour and record once more with Savuka before going solo.
Written to Clegg’s infant son Jesse (perched atop the singer’s shoulder’s on the album’s cover), the title and opening lines of “Cruel Crazy Beautiful World” speak of chaos and change. But the sound—an assured harmony of brass, keyboards and Zulu backing vocals—feels like confident news from the future, not fear of the present.
5. “Asimbonanga”
Savuka’s in-mourning, almost ecclesiastical call to a then-imprisoned
Nelson
Mandela aligned it with Peter Garbiel’s “Biko,” which was released seven
years prior. In fact, Clegg names Stephen Biko alongside other murdered
anti-apartheid activists like Victoria Mxenge and Neil Aggett as part of a
spoken bridge that haunts you when listening to the studio version, but brings
the audience together into a kind of remembrance circle when performed live.
“Asimbonanga,” which translates to “We Have Not Seen Him,” originally appeared on Savuka’s first album Third World Child in 1987. Its resonance has continues over the years and decades, though. In 1999, the final year of Mandela’s presidency, Clegg surprised the crowd at a concert in Paris during this song by bringing the dancing, smiling leader out onstage. And when Mandela died in December 2013, the Soweto Gospel Choir eulogized him with a version of “Asimbonanga” that’s now part of the internet-famous flash mob at a Pretoria supermarket.
6. “Great Heart”
“Great Heart” demonstrates how important Clegg’s light touch is to his trademark
balance of spirit and substance. With its light, guitar picking, gently
crescendo and Clegg’s even vocals, the song still maintains a rhythm that you
can dance to. For fans looking to dig deeper into Clegg’s catalogue, “Great
Heart” is arranged almost identically to Juluka’s “African Sky Blue”—a song that
lands much heavier and should go on another list for a grayer day.
7. “Sky People”
Juluka’s 1979 debut album Universal Men had the audacity to be the work
of a multiracial band under apartheid and a concept album telling the story of
one of the nation’s forgotten—a fictional African migrant worker. The opening
song “Sky People” may then seem like calling the prologue the best part of a
great novel. Instead the song’s conversation of stern vocals and percussion like
the end of a rainstorm resembles a whisper building to a scream.
8. “Scatterlings of Africa”
The opening salvo of Juluka’s fourth album, “Scatterlings of Africa” would be
the western world’s first exposure to Clegg. It appeared on the soundtrack of
Rain Man in 1988 and nearly all of Clegg’s live and greatest hits records.
In fact, during the early days of the Internet, fans on message boards and email
groups frequently would refer to themselves as “Scatterlings.”
9. “Dela”
“Dela” is Clegg’s most straightforward love song on Savuka’s third album
Cruel, Crazy Beautiful World, which has a trio of songs about love and
family amid critiques of the then-crumbling apartheid. This one is a break from
anger when Clegg’s voice edges just in front of a lead keyboard line, not
pleading, but simply promising, “I have been waiting for you all my life / I am
content / When I am with you.”
10. “Love in the Time of Gaza”
Clegg’s opened 2010’s Human, his first U.S. album release in 17 years,
with this minor key, strained-vocals tune that feels like a second cousin to the
slow burning political fury of The Clash. It’s a song that represents the
(admittedly narrowly-named) “world music” sound he played such an outsized role
in creating, and looks ahead to the future of such endeavors from new
generations of musicians around the world.
Opinion / 3 July 2017, 2:16pm / Murray Williams
Johnny Clegg has recorded and performed with his bands Juluka and Savuka
during the most trying times in our country's history.
"We were only kids. And Johnny Clegg’s music became the soundtrack of our lives,"
writes Murray Williams.
Cape Town - "One day I looked up and there you were; like a simple question,
looking for an answer.”
I first heard his voice on the back of an old Datsun bakkie with four blood
brothers.
It was 5am, the early ‘80s. Delivering pamphlets, with the urge to vote “no” to
the racist, divide-and-rule tricameral Parliament.
The blue paintwork on our old skorokoro was faded. But the black-and-white
sticker on the back was clear: “All God’s beaches for all God’s people.”
We were only kids. And Johnny Clegg’s music became the soundtrack of our lives.
Much like the USA’s Bruce Springsteen, Clegg’s a storyteller. He and Sipho
Mchunu’s weaves were sewn on the streets of Joburg, the epicentre of that
monstrous ill: migrant labour. They sang of our “African litanies” – our
Struggle against poverty, oppression, violence, apartheid. And how we coped, as
humans.
“The warrior’s now a worker and his war is underground; With cordite in the
darkness he milks the bleeding veins of gold; When the smoking rock face murmurs,
he always thinks of you; African sky blue.”
Back home, a child was “keeping the home fires burning, while papa’s out earning
the pittance he calls his pay”.
In another dry valley: “An old lady walking down the dusty farm road; Looking
for a simple home; She’s old and she’s bent, her eyes can hardly see; And she’d
lost everything she ever had to lose; So she picks up her walking stick and puts
on her car-tyre shoes…”
A continent ripped apart by war: “Will this be the end of the rain and the birds?”
Clegg’s songs carried both pain and resilience, like the “Kwela Man, singing
under the street light; With a cheap guitar, he gave his sorrow a smile”.
In time, RSA’s stories became interwoven with our own. A world seen through “Old
Eyes”.But he also sang of hope! “African sky blue, your children wait for the
dawn; soon a new day will be born; African sunshine, soon you will warm your
children’s eyes.”
He cried: “Sing me the songs that taste of freedom; Liyeza, ilanga lami seliyeza
(It’s coming, my day is coming).”
And he danced. The Western suit is an everyday straight-jacket. Deliberately
designed to constrict excessive expression, to keep its captive on the straight
and narrow. To make absolutely sure, the neck-tie strangles the sorry soul into
guaranteed submission.
Zulu stick-fighting and dance, by contrast, are a language the whole body speaks.
“Dedela umoya, wami Baba (Set my spirit free, Father).”
Now he’s facing a new struggle, the fight to survive.
It’s tempting to say, as the “copper sun is sinking low”: “Where did the time go?
Can you tell me where did your life go?”
But I’d prefer to say, instead:
“Johnny Clegg: I burn for you.”
* Williams’ “Shooting from the Lip” column appears in the Cape Argus every
Monday.
2017-09-15 11:20 Johnny Clegg adds one more show to final tour http://www.channel24.co.za/The-Juice/News/johnny-clegg-talks-about-his-struggle-with-cancer-these-shows-are-hard-for-me-20170915
Johannesburg – Speaking to the press at an intimate gathering on Thursday,
legendary musician Johnny Clegg opened up about his final world tour as well as
his battle with cancer.
"These shows are hard for me," Johnny said when questioned about the state of
mind he is in. He explained: "I’m dealing with another parellel world that I
work in with my diagnosis. Pancreatic [cancer] is lethal. There’s no way out of
it."
The singer said he had two bouts of chemotherapy, each six months long, after
being diagnosed in 2015, but in 2016 found out he'd have to undergo another
session. "I came back in 2016 from my American tour and my cancer tumour count
in my blood was up, and a month later it doubled. Now doubling means that
there’s a problem. So I went for an MRI and they found two lymph nodes that have
just swelled up. And they said, 'well we’re gonna have to put you on the atom
bomb [another form of chemotherapy]. So I had six months, I came off of it in
February."
Besides going through chemo, Johnny has also had a whipple operation among other
medical procedures. “I don’t have a duodenum, I have half my stomach, I don’t
have a bile duct, I don’t have a gallbladder, I have half my pancreas. It’s all
been reconfigured.”
“So I came out of that this year and I started to feel the graph is going up.
And I said to Roddy my manager, I don’t know what’s gonna happen, I’ve studied
this on the internet, I’ve spoken to my doctor, I don’t know how long I’ve got.
And we all know that it’s gonna end badly at one point,” he added.
Right now Johnny says he is in a good place. “I feel fit and strong, I’m dancing
and I’m singing.”
He continues to push forward for his fans. “I have Clegg-heads, Savuka-heads,
Juluka-heads who have grown old with me in the world, who appreciate what I do,
who are genuinely sad and want to make that final connection and celebrate that.
And I feel quite motivated to do that.”
Friday November 24, 2017 Day 6 with Brent Bambury
South African police tried to shut down his shows for years. Johnny Clegg
resisted. He kept playing and kicking high.
Now, more than four decades later, the groundbreaking South African
singer-songwriter is playing his final concerts, including a sold-out show
Saturday night in Cape Town.
"I feel like I could keep on going forever, but I know that is an illusion,"
Clegg tells Day 6 host Brent Bambury. The singer was diagnosed with pancreatic
cancer in 2015 and is in remission.
South Africa Music
Clegg's final tour has stopped in Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City, as well as in the U.S. and Africa. (Themba Hadebe/Associated Press)
"I have a very, very serious condition … which, at some point, it's going to
raise its head again."
Clegg is revered in South Africa, credited for bridging racial gaps through his
own music and that of his beloved multi-racial bands Juluka and Savuka.
He was born in Britain but grew up in South Africa, playing with Zulu street
musicians and learning their language and dance — something he incorporated into
his live show.
"I was a lot more open to the other South Africa that most white kids were not
open to," he says. Clegg quickly recognized the special sounds their guitars
were making and started collaborating.
"This was a unique genre of guitar, African guitar music, coming from South
Africa. I knew that nobody in the white world particularly knew about it."
'We did not preach politics'
The authorities weren't pleased. Clegg was arrested when he was 15 for hanging
out with the Zulu migrant workers without a permit. And during apartheid, he
kept playing, performing in largely black areas at universities, in homes and
rural towns far from the city.
"We would average about 20 per cent of the shows closed down by police, but we
could get through about 80 per cent of our performances," he says.
At some shows, they'd show up with police dogs. At others they used tear gas on
the crowd.
Johnny Clegg, left and Sipho Mchunu, who formerly made up the band Juluka, perform at Grandwest Arena, on June 30, 2017, in Cape Town, on the first live gig of his final world tour. (Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty Images)
Clegg never understood why police found the band such a problem: "We were acting against apartheid but we never used the word apartheid … we did not preach politics to anybody."
'We will always remember his legacy': Clegg's influence
Juno-winning world musician Lorraine Klaasen grew up in South Africa and now lives in Montreal. Her mother is the famed South African jazz star Thandi Klaasen. Here are her thoughts on Clegg's impact:
"Johnny Clegg's music played an important part in promoting South African music to the world. By singing and dancing Zulu culture [and] working with Juluka, [he] demonstrated that white and black can live and share their heritage.
I am saddened that he is taking time off. But we will always remember his legacy. I had the honour to present him during the 10th anniversary of freedom in South Africa and the 25th Montreal Jazz Festival. My dear beloved mom … may her soul rest in peace, also shared the stage.
But we must remember that the South African Music will live on. I am still standing. So keep supporting this beautiful music."
Asimbonanga (one of Clegg's better known songs) became an anti-apartheid
anthem with its references to a then-jailed Nelson Mandela. The song — which
means "we have not seen him" in Zulu — was banned in the country when it came
out in the late 1980s.
More than decade later, Clegg got to play it for Mandela at a 1999 show in
Frankfurt, a career highlight.
Mandela snuck on stage behind Clegg, dancing back and forth to the tune as he
walked out. Clegg still plays the video on stage in his live show.
"It was an amazing moment," he said.
'It looks like the planet Mars'
Post-apartheid, much has changed in South Africa.
"I look back at that time and think, how perverse and how absurd," Clegg says. "It
looks like the planet Mars."
Still Clegg sees instances of "racism and xenophobia," a topic he touches on in
his more recent music; he released
a new single last month.
Dance is an integral part of Clegg's live show. He learned Zulu dance when he was young and typically pays tribute with a high kick war dance. (Abdelhak Senna/AFP/Getty Images)
"There's been quite a strong racial issue about whites owning the economy and
blacks still being excluded, and I just thought I have to, I have to write
something about it."
As his farewell comes to a close (there are still some 2018 dates being worked
out), Clegg hopes he has left a legacy for others to make change through music
and dance.
All this has drawn comparisons to the Tragically Hip's Gord Downie, his advocacy
work for Indigenous people and how the band's final tour panned out. Clegg paid
tribute to the late singer at his Toronto show in October. He also made stops in
Montreal and Quebec City.
"I've had a great life. I've had a great 40 years of music," Clegg says.
"When I take my guitar off and say goodbye for the last time, it's both a very,
very happy moment … but at the same time obviously a goodbye's a tough thing."
Derek de Beer was a member of Johnny Clegg and Juluka during the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa
By Mario Carlucci, CBC News Posted: Dec 05, 2017 3:07 PM ET| Last Updated: Dec 06, 2017 3:34 PM ET http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-musician-recalls-life-on-tour-with-johnny-clegg-1.4428056
Johnny Clegg was a central figure during the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s, and his music gained global popularity during those tumultuous times.
Alongside Clegg was drummer Derek de Beer, a member of Clegg's influential backing bands Juluka and Savuka — bands credited with bridging the cultural divide between white and black South Africa.
In 2015 Clegg was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Now 64 and in remission, he's chosen to leave the touring life behind and concentrate on his health.
De Beer, who moved to Ottawa once his time with the band was over, recalled how he felt when he first learned about Clegg's diagnosis.
Derek de Beer, far left, was a founding member of Juluka with Johnny Clegg, third from right. The band later became Savuka. (Derek de Beer)
"For once in my life I was tongue-tied," he said. "It's very hard to listen to, knowing that he's such a wonderful storyteller and a giver, songwriter and communicator to planet Earth. He's a pioneer. A wonderful human being with a great sense of humour."
In January de Beer will return to South Africa to help Clegg with his memoir.
"We'll get past the tears first. It's going to be very emotional," de Beer said.
De Beer said neither Clegg nor himself were big partygoers during their touring days, so they spent a lot of time getting to know each other on the back of the tour bus while the other band members enjoyed themselves.
"We did like 12 world tours, 300 cities a year. It was Clegg and myself, just the two of us, sitting on the back of the rock 'n' roll bus," said de Beer. "And there was virtually nothing about him I didn't know. We could talk about toothpicks, aliens, how you mow the lawn and how you build a house. And I got to know him very well."
As a racially mixed band in South Africa during apartheid, they also faced obstacles that other groups could never imagine, de Beer recalled. De Beer said they never entertained the idea of giving up, despite the dangers.
Clegg's final tour stopped in Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City, as well as across the U.S. and Africa. (Themba Hadebe/Associated Press)
"I don't remember the number of times we were arrested. Shows closed down. We got chased off the stage with a pump shotgun. But we went on to great success. And at the end of the day, the band was about inclusion. Not exclusion."
During breaks in the gruelling tour schedules, instead of returning to South Africa for short stints, de Beer would visit friends in Canada. He eventually would meet the mother of his children, who's from the Ottawa area. The marriage ended, but de Beer and his kids have called the city home ever since.
"I just had a lots of fun here," de Beer said. "I liked Canada and I thought it would be great for my kids to be born here."
Johnny Clegg was
never going to bow out quietly. Despite battling cancer, he felt he owed his
fans a proper farewell, and for the past several months he’s done shows across
the US, and in Canada, Dubai and London during his The Final Journey world tour.
TONY JACKMAN caught the penultimate show of the tour in Port Elizabeth, the home
town of several of his band members.
Good Hope Centre, Cape Town, 1986. Just another windy Struggle day in the Mother City. It’s getting on for 10pm and Johnny Clegg and Juluka are singing Scatterlings of Africa near the end of their concert, which is being recorded and set to become a South African classic of a live album. Everyone is holding high a little Bic lighter, a shifting sea of lights representing the hope in many hearts. Everyone smoked back then.
The scatterlings were the exiles. Three years earlier, in 1983, the song had been released in the UK – a year after its South African release – and had broken into the UK Top 40. New Musical Express ran a review at the time by a critic who didn’t think much of the song because he thought the harmonies and acoustic guitar work were primitive compared to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Let’s not bother to find out whatever became of him.
We didn’t yet know the two Johnny Clegg songs which, for my hard-earned money, are his masterpieces – Asimbonanga (which I cannot hear without becoming emotional), and The Crossing (which I cannot hear without becoming emotional) – but even so Juluka’s, and later Savuka’s, albums and shows were among those things you held onto while casting your eyes and heart to a better future you knew would come. This cross-over visionary was, right then and there, the best of us. If only more of us had emulated him, the change might have come sooner.
The Boardwalk, Port Elizabeth, January 2018. Imagine how I felt at the weekend when Clegg, wrapping up his The Final Journey tour, sang both Asimbonanga and The Crossing in particular contexts.
The first context was for The Crossing (Osiyeza), and he sang it for Dudu Mntowaziwayo Ndlovu, for whom he had written it. Dudu was Clegg’s inhlangwini dancing partner for years until he was assassinated in 1992 during the KwaZulu-Natal political upheaval. That was Dudu on that Good Hope Centre stage in 1986, and anywhere else you saw any of Clegg’s shows over those many years when Clegg’s repertoire with Juluka and Savuka was a part of the Struggle soundtrack.
On Saturday, a 64-year-old Clegg (for a good deal of the show leaping about the stage like a Boy Band singer on Ritalin) had a particular urgency in his voice. He’s been sharing something very personal with us, and we know that the “final” part of the tour’s title holds a poignant truth. The man has pancreatic cancer, and yet he wants to say farewell to the fans who, as he told an interviewer recently, have “grown old” with him over the past four decades.
So today, the words of The Crossing are saturated with meaning, like an image composed of many Photoshop layers. He’s singing of his friend returning to his ancestors but he’s singing too of himself preparing to make his own crossing. Then, he was singing for Dudu. Now he’s come full circle and the meaning is palpable. “Take me now, don’t let go, hold me close...” And when he sings “I’m coming home!” he’s firing it right at Dudu, across the divide. “I’m coming home!”
Much later, there’s that moment at every concert where the little game is played with the audience of holding back one or two of the greatest crowd-pleasers and making out that the show’s all done. Of course he’s gonna do Asimbonanga, come on! He does, of course, but the context you are not expecting.
The entire show has been a sound-and-visual extravanganza of story-telling and autobiography. And suddenly Madiba is with us, cut from his surprise appearance on a Frankfurt stage in 1999, while Clegg was opening the show with Asimbonanga as a tribute to Mandela. A few bars into the song, Madiba strode on stage, taking even Clegg by surprise. By the end of this weekend’s live reprise, Johnny, 64, is duetting with his younger self with Madiba dancing along. Lumps in throats everywhere.
The Final Journey traverses his life and career from the early ‘70s. We get to know him better than we ever have, including the tidbit that he was a Joburg boy who found his way to Zulu culture via his forays into hostels on the edge of Soweto. “Everyone thinks I grew up on a farm in Natal,” he says dryly. In the first set he dips into his musical journey, chatting as much as singing, and often very funny, not least his tale about learning to play the concertina the township way, which involves having a new (and expensive) concertina’s buttons reset.
His band is solidly behind him all the way but after interval he’s on stage alone with his guitar. Once the band has rejoined him the hits all come out, with two special appearances that bring the house down. Sipho Mchunu, who retired years ago to return to his farm roots, comes on to join Johnny for African Sky Blue (his signature guitar riffs instantly recognisable), and Jesse Clegg joins him to duet on a song Jesse wrote for his dad, set to be the new single.
Then father and son sing Great Heart, and you can see the love and pride pouring out of Johnny, who, says Mchunu, wants to step back from his erstwhile mad schedule. Mchunu is a delight. Wryly, he tells us about Johnny’s plan to spend some time with his family.
“One wife...” he muses, shaking his head.
“Two sons...” … another head shake.
“Shame, man...
And, grinning: “He’s lazy...”
And Johnny laughs the laugh of a man with a long life set out before him.
Those of us who love him wish it was as simple and sweet as that. One thing we do know and can hold in our hearts, as his final journey plays out: he’s still the best of us. DM
Photo: A file photo of Johnny Clegg from 2014 by Dominique Cardinal via Flickr
https://www.friendsofjohnnyclegg.com/
Johnny Clegg represents all that is great about South Africa. He embodies the fighting spirit and vision, required to transcend into a better future for all. Leading from the front, he has shown how social barriers and prejudices can be broken with his music and in doing so, instils an awareness of other cultures while truly creating a meaningful change.
Johnny’s passion for education shines bright and as a result, he has inspired some of the country’s most popular artists to thank him for all that he has done and continues to do for music and South Africa, alike. On 10 September 2018, over 50 artists came together to record their own version of Johnny’s song, ‘The Crossing’, as a tribute to the man himself and to raise funds to fight the education crisis in South Africa. This stands to be the biggest South African music collaboration of all time and shows once again how Johnny has the unwavering ability to bring people from all backgrounds together.
FRIENDS OF JOHNNY CLEGG is a fund created in Johnny’s honour through the Click Foundation. The funds will be distributed to their various centres across South Africa to target young learners in primary schools, Grade R – Grade 3 with an online phonetics based programme to help them read and write. The Click Foundation is aimed at changing lives for the young learners of South Africa. Supporting them on their journey and creating lifelong learners through their ability to read and use technology.Friends: Abigail Kubeka, Ailsa Burns, Amelia Henning, Andre Venter, Andy Mac, Anna Davel, Ard Matthews, Arno Carstens, Bobbie van Jaarsveld, Carien Loubser, Carol Kohne, Chris Lotz, Corlea Botha, Craig Hinds, Craig Lucas, Dan Patlansky, Darren Petersen, David Kramer, David Matthews, Dorothy Masuku, Elrick Davids, Elvis Blue, Emo Adams, Farrel Saunders, Francois van Coke, Franja du Plessis, Gloria Bosman, Ilse van der Merwe, Izzy Muller, Jack Parrow, Jack Parrow and David Kramer, Terrence Collings, Jason Hartman, Jesse Clegg, Jimmy Nevis, Juanita du Plessis, Judith Sephuma, Kahn Morbee, Karen Zoid, Karien Bendle, Karlien van Jaarsveld, Kurt Darren, Kyle Petersen, Lally Tshabane, Laudo Liebenberg, Lindsy Terry, Lira, Majozi, Mike Rutherford, Paige Mac, Paul Harris, Patricia Lewis, Paul Bruce-Brand, Peter Gabriel, Peter Russell, Rhodi-Anne Buys, Nicolaas Smith, Henry Steel, Anelia Loubser, Richard Brokenshaw, Roddy Quinn, Ross Learmonth, Schalk Van Der Merwe, Sibusiso Masondo, Somizi, Stompie Manana, Thandeka Campher, Thembeka Mnguni, Theo Crous, Tobie de Haas, Tresor, Vicky Sampson, Vusi Mahlasela, Yati Khumalo, Yibanathi Ndamani, Zolani.
I am speechless thank you so much! This is an amazing moment for me - to have so many of my peers acknowledge the song and its sentiments, and that they can use that to further something much bigger than all of us. Thank you. (Facebook 6.12.18 https://www.facebook.com/johnnycleggsa/)
More than 50 artists recorded a special version of Clegg’s soulful track, “The Crossing.”
Listen here: https://platoon.lnk.to/the-crossing
Over 50 prominent artists came together to record a tribute to Johnny Clegg, a true South African legend who has made and continues to make an indelible mark on music history. Tonight on the 5th of December, the song and accompanying video, filmed at the gathering in September, were played to Johnny for the very first time at a private event where he performed for friends and lifelong fans at the luxury boutique hotel, Ellerman House in Bantry Bay, Cape Town.
Paul Bruce-Brand, Ellerman House’s General Manager and passionate music lover said, “This was an extremely unique, powerful performance which culminated in one of our final ‘Ellerman Sessions’ of the year. These intimate sessions embrace South African talent with fervour, offering a series of personal-storytelling evenings with local icons, from platinum-selling musicians to award-winning chefs. What a story Johnny Clegg has to share – filled with emotional tales of struggle and hardship, yet characterised by an overriding sense of joy, humour, hope and passion for this country.”
Singer, songwriter, dancer, anthropologist and musical activist, Johnny Clegg’s infectious crossover music — a vibrant blend of Western pop and African Zulu rhythms — exploded onto the international scene and broke through barriers in South Africa. In an award-winning career spanning over three decades, he has sold over five million albums worldwide, bringing people from all backgrounds together. The same evening saw the launch of Friends of Johnny Clegg, a fund created in Johnny’s honour to help alleviate the education crisis in South Africa. All proceeds from downloads of this special version of “The Crossing” will go toward this fund. These proceeds will be distributed by the Click Foundation, which targets young learners with an online phonetics-based programme in centres across the country, ultimately aimed at creating a better future for the youth of South Africa — a cause close to Johnny’s heart.
Paul Bruce-Brand explained how it all transpired: “Roddy Quin, Kahn Morbee, Karen Zoid, Theo Crous, my team and I, together with the other artists in our lineup wanted to do something special to honour all that Johnny has done and continues to do for music and South Africa. Given that our owner, Paul Harris has a vision for Ellerman House and is passionate about South Africa, it was natural for us to back an ambitious collaborative project. Never could we have imagined that it would snowball into something as large as it did. Before we knew it, everyone, from far and wide, wanted to participate. Local artists performed alongside acclaimed international artists Dave Matthews, Peter Gabriel and Mike Rutherford. It proved to be an overwhelming testament to Johnny Clegg and indicated the extent to which he has touched people’s lives through his music.”
On 10 September 2018, many of South Africa’s most popular and influential artists flew into Cape Town to share their time and talent in recording their own version of Johnny Clegg’s “The Crossing” at Mothership Studios. The song was produced by Theo Crous and mastered in Los Angeles by Lurssen, a multi Grammy award-winning studio. Emotions were high, with smiles all round and a wonderful sense of camaraderie amongst fellow artists and friends, brought together by their desire to pay tribute and express their love and admiration for the great Johnny Clegg.All proceeds go directly to the Friends of Johnny Clegg Fund. For more information on how to support the cause, please visit the website www.friendsofjohnnyclegg.co.za.
SUPPORTING QUOTES:
Abigail Kubeka: “I was honoured to be invited to be part of this project. Johnny Clegg is one of our greatest musicians in South Africa. For him to think of helping others when he has a challenge of his own is typical of his nature and of musicians in this country. He and his fellow musicians make others happy when they themselves experience hardship. To Johnny, all the participating musicians and music lovers, God Bless You, and lets all be united.”
Carien Loubser: “To get so many people (musicians and crew) together is usually a tough task, but all of this came together seamlessly. This just shows how much love and respect there is for Johnny within the South African music community. The energy on this day was infectious and the experience of ‘coming together’ in celebration of Johnny was truly special. The world is upside-down right now; this ‘Friends of Johnny’ project reminds us what life is actually about: the unstoppable force of collaboration and respect.”
Dave Matthews: “Juluka mixed culture and music in a way that had never been done. It broke down barriers. They joined the forces working to expose the hate-filled cruelty of the old South African system. And their music is slamming.”
David Kramer: “Johnny Clegg is a great South African songwriter and innovator. A man with his own unmistakable voice and vision. It is an honour to have worked with him and call him friend.”
Kahn Morbee: “For me his story inspired my entire approach to a career in music because he made me believe that in an industry and a country shrouded in a constant state of flux and uncertainty it was possible to actually have a career in music that transcended culture, race, boundaries and borders. He made me believe that you could make popular music that wasn't frivolous but on the contrary was profound and laden with substance with the power to change a part of the world for the better, even if just for a moment... And best of all, he became an accidental hero because he was in love with the human journey and its diversity and became a magnet and beacon of the magic that can be achieved when we celebrate all of US.”
Karen Zoid: “Working on this project has been one of the greatest honours of my career. The Crossing is a song about courage and acceptance and being able to navigate difficult times because of the love inside that drives you to keep bearing forward. We, as friends and fans of Johnny sing his words back at him, as to pay respect to him for his humanity and bravery. May this be the guiding light to thousands of children who will benefit from the incredible work done by The Click Foundation, through the Friends of Johnny Clegg Fund.”
Roddy Quin: “It has been an incredible journey working with Johnny Clegg for 26 years. I would like to thank all the musicians who paid tribute to him, also to Paul Bruce-Brand, Kahn, Theo, Karen, Paul Harris and all at Ellerman House for making this possible.”
Theo Crous: “Johnny has played such an integral part in the musical landscape of South Africa, especially in a time when we, as the Springbok Nude Girls, started. I feel very honoured and proud to be associated with this project.”
Vusi Mahlasela: “Johnny Clegg is a true icon of South African music. I’ve always admired his pioneering sound, going back to the early days of Juluka. He is a musical soul and he lives his life with the spirit of Ubuntu. I’m deeply honoured to be part of this project, which is going to change the lives of many young South Africans for the better.”
Zolani Mahola: “Johnny Clegg has been a figure I have looked up to since I was a small child. That a white man could find value in the things I called normality ... my cultures and my norms; yes, even my black skin in a country which absolutely devalued my experience and my existence ... was and still is a wonder. He was one of the first examples of embracing the dichotomy of the South African experience and I’m so happy to honour him with my fellow artists in singing this song which means so much to us all in honour of a man who means so much to all of us. I’m pleased as punch to lend my voice!”
Friends of Johnny Clegg artists who collaborated on track: Abigail Kubeka, Andre Venter, Andy Mac, Anna Davel, Ard Matthews, Arno Carstens, Bobby van Jaarsveld, Corlea Botha, Craig Hinds, Craig Lucas, Dan Patlansky, Dave Matthews, David Kramer, Dorothy Masuka, Elvis Blue, Emo Adams, Francois van Coke, Franja du Plessis, Gloria Bosman, Jack Parow, Jason Hartman, Jesse Clegg , Jimmy Nevis, Juanita du Plessis, Judith Sephuma, Kahn Morbee, Karen Zoid, Karlien van Jaarsveld, Kurt Darren, Laudo Liebenberg, Lira, Majozi, Mike Rutherford, Paige Mac, Patricia Lewis, Peter Gabriel, Ross Learmonth, Somizi, Stompie Manana, Thandeka Campher, Thembeka Mnguni, Tresor, Vicky Sampson, Victor Masondo, Vusi Mahlasela, Yati Khumalo, Zolani Mahola
https://www.friendsofjohnnyclegg.com/friends/
Band: Darren Petersen, Henry Steel, Kyle Petersen, Schalk van der Merwe, Theo Crous, Richard Brokensha & the RMB Starlight Classics Orchestra.
Ellerman House:
Private and exclusive, Ellerman House offers 13 rooms and suites, a tranquil spa, two ultra-modern villas, indigenous gardens, spectacular Atlantic Ocean views, and easy access to local attractions. Modern cuisine, an interactive cellar of vintage wines, and an extensive art collection, enhance a world-class experience that is authentically South African. www.ellerman.co.za
ELLERMAN SESSIONS | Johnny Clegg
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The Musicians - A South African Superstar Says Farewell
October 29, 20171:48 PM ET Anastasia Tsioulcas https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2017/10/29/558571470/a-south-african-superstar-says-farewell?t=1564671641453
Johnny Clegg — the co-founder of two groundbreaking, racially mixed bands during the apartheid era — is battling pancreatic cancer. He's saying goodbye to his fans on a U.S. tour.Johnny Clegg co-founded two important, interracial bands, and became an essential voice in South Africa. Now, he's embarking on a farewell tour after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Well before Paul Simon's "Graceland" came along, a white musician from South Africa named Johnny Clegg was already breaking apartheid laws and celebrating Zulu culture. He co-founded two important, interracial bands, and became an essential voice in his country. But two years ago, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and he's on a farewell U.S. tour that he's calling "The Final Journey."
Johnny Clegg is 64 years old. He's in remission now, but he has a very aggressive form of cancer. "I've come out of my second chemo in February," he says. "In March, I just said to my management, you know, if there was a time to wrap up my affairs while I'm feeling pretty strong and good, it would be now."
For his current tour, he's playing a retrospective of a career that's spanned four decades. Clegg's life — and music — have moved in parallel to the currents of South Africa's history. His song "Asimbonanga," written in honor of Nelson Mandela, became an anthem for South Africa's freedom fighters.YouTube https://youtu.be/BGS7SpI7obY
Clegg was born in England, the child born of a brief relationship between an English man and a female jazz singer from Zimbabwe (which was called Southern Rhodesia at the time). Clegg spent his early childhood in Zimbabwe; when he was 7, his mother remarried to a South African crime reporter. Soon after, the family moved north to Zambia for a couple of years, before settling in Johannesburg. "I went to six schools in five years in three different countries," he observes.
It was in Johannesburg that Johnny — then just a young teenager — fell in love with Zulu culture and music.
"I stumbled on Zulu street guitar music being performed by Zulu migrant workers, traditional tribesmen from the rural areas," he recalls. "They had taken a Western instrument that had been developed over six, seven hundred years, and reconceptualized the tuning. They changed the strings around, they developed new styles of picking, they only use the first five frets of the guitar — they developed a totally unique genre of guitar music, indigenous to South Africa. I found it quite emancipating."
He started taking lessons in that local style. "The chap who taught me was an apartment cleaner around the corner from where I lived, and then I bought a cheap steel-string guitar. And I was on my way."
His guitar teacher introduced him around, in places where he probably wouldn't have been welcomed if he'd been a white man. But the teenage Clegg was really just a kid.
"He took me into these areas of backstreet Johannesburg, where the migrant laborers would hang out," Clegg says, "in the industrial side of the city, which wasn't really that well policed. We went around the migrant labor hostels, where somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 black, male-only itinerant workers could live and pay rent for a bed."
The hardscrabble hostels were the center of life for these itinerant workers. "The hostels were these military barracks-like structures," Clegg explains, "with 20 beds in a open-plan room: open-plan kitchen, open-plan showers, toilets, all that stuff. It was a very tough, hard life. People struggled and competed to get a bed, because if you got a bed, you got a bed number — which it meant that you could get a job, and if you had a job, you could be legal for 11 months of the year in Johannesburg."
The hostels were raided at least once a month by the police, Clegg says. "You never knew when they were coming. And the hostels were also monitored by the municipal police, the 'Blackjacks,' who were basically there to prevent prostitution."
But on the weekends, Clegg says, those migrant workers treated themselves to little tastes of home around the hostels. And Clegg fell in love with their Zulu culture.
"This incredible, tribal carpet would be thrown out into the streets," he says, "and dance teams, diviners, herbalists — practitioners of various different tribal aspects of life — would ply their wares sitting on pieces of cardboard on them on the sidewalk."
Clegg fell in love with Zulu dancing, just as much as with the music, and dancing opened up a whole new channel of being for Clegg. "It was like capoeira, or martial arts, to music," he explains. "You kick high, and you stamp the ground, which is symbolically delivering a blow to an enemy or receiving a blow and how you would recover. So it's a kind of warrior theater."YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO1LsbxOxXA#action=share
Clegg says that those Zulu men dancing taught him — as a teenager trying to figure out his place in the world — what it meant to be a man. "The body was coded and wired — hard-wired — to carry messages about masculinity which were pretty powerful for an adolescent boy," he observes. "They knew something about being a man, which they could communicate physically in the way that they danced and carried themselves. And I wanted to be able to do the same thing. Basically, I wanted to become a Zulu warrior. And in a very deep sense, it offered me an African identity. It was like a homecoming for me; I don't know why, but I felt that."
Clegg was only 15 when he first got into trouble with the authorities for mixing with blacks. "I was arrested for trespassing and for breaking the Group Areas Act. The police said, 'You're too young to charge. We're taking you back your parents.'"
His mother opened the family's front door. "I was standing between two policemen," Clegg recounts, "and they said, 'Listen, your son was inside a hostel. We only go in there armed with guns. Every weekend, there are dead bodies coming out, with tribal fighting and longstanding clan wars going back 50 years. They're competing for scarce resources in there, there's lots of crime, there's stolen goods — it's not a place for a 15-year-old white boy to be hanging out.'"
Initially, Clegg's mother told him he couldn't go back. But he was not to be deterred.
"I got the dance leader there, a 68-year-old chap who was a very famous dance leader at the hostel, to come to my flat and to meet my mom," he says. "He brought his two lieutenants with him and they sat there, they chatted and he said, "Once he's through the gates and he's with us, he's fine. Nothing will ever happen because we are all going there to dance."
And so, he went back — over and over again. "It was a very strong experience dancing in a hostel," Clegg says. "The beds were pushed up against the walls, and 40 or so men would sit against the wall. To make space, they would open their legs and put somebody else sitting between their legs, and then the guy in front between his legs, and between his legs, and so on. You'd sit and you'd clap and sing. You basically had on nothing more than car-tire sandals and long pants. There was a very powerful male odor, sweat, deep male vocals. When you're sitting inside there — it's the most powerful experience I had ever experienced."
One of his dancing connections became one of the longest artistic collaborators of his career. "I met Sipho Mchunu, who became my partner in Juluka," Clegg recalls, " and we played traditional maskanda guitar music for about six or seven years. I also joined his dance team."
Johnny and Sipho initially performed as a duo for years. "Sipho and I, we couldn't play in public," Clegg explains, "so we played in private venues, schools, churches, university private halls. We played a lot of embassies. We played a lot of consulates."
The two started thinking about how they could combine Zulu music with sounds from elsewhere, Clegg says.
"I was exposed to Celtic folk music early on," he recounts. "I never knew my dad, who was from England, and music was one way which I can connect with that country. I liked Irish, Scottish and English folk music. I had a lot of tapes and recordings of them. And my stepfather was a great fan of pipe music. On Sundays, he would play an LP of the Edinburgh Police Pipe Band."
Clegg started hearing connections between the rural music of South Africa's Natal province — the music that he was learning from his black friends and teachers — and the sounds of Britain. "I sometimes heard traditional Zulu war songs in a minor key. And I could hear Celtic melodies. I could hear rhythms. I could hear 6/8 meter." Clegg pauses in his story to demonstrate a rhythm that could easily accompany a Scottish reel, but when he starts singing, it's in Zulu.
"It was ridiculous," he says of the similarities. "So I thought, 'There's a conversation here to be had.'"
That conversation led Clegg and Mchunu to found the band Juluka — which means "Sweat" in Zulu.
"I had no commercial or artistic aspirations to become a performer or anything," Clegg avers. "I was like a musicologist, in a way. I was full of the music — I was bursting. I just wanted to get a recording."
In the meantime, Clegg had become a professor of anthropology at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg; Mchunu was working as a gardener. Nevertheless, they started shopping an album to record labels. There were no takers — back then, South African radio was strictly segregated, and no one thought an album that was partly in Zulu and partly in English would find an audience. Clegg says that their songs' subject material wasn't setting off any sparks with record producers, either.
"You know, 'Who really cares about cattle? You're singing about cattle. You know we're in Johannesburg, dude, get your subject matter right!'" he says of the reactions Juluka initially got from record labels. "But I was shaped by cattle culture, because all the songs I learned were about cattle, and I was interested. I was saying, 'There's a hidden world. And I'd like to put it on the table.'"
"I couldn't get anybody to sign it, though," Clegg says. "I just hopped it around, and hopped it around, and eventually, I landed at the Gramophone Record Company, which was a subsidiary of CBS [in South Africa]. There was a chap there whose name was Hilton Rosenthal. And he said, 'You know what, this is very interesting. This is not going to get radio play or anything, but it's interesting as a documentary, a recording of what's going on now.'"
Rosenthal signed Juluka to his independent label. In 1979, its first album, Universal Men, was released. Within a few years, this most unlikely band had managed to score a hit in the U.K. with the song "Scatterlings of Africa." They were offered a tour of Europe and North America. Clegg and Mchunu both resigned from their jobs, and hit the road.YouTube https://youtu.be/6Ca2uVZuiY0
Eventually, Mchunu decided that he had tired of life as a professional musician. He hated Johannesburg and city living; he longed to go home to his native region of Zululand to raise cattle. "It was really hard for Sipho," Clegg recalls. "He was a traditional tribesman. To be in New York City on tour, not speaking English that well — there were times when I think he felt he was on Mars. And after some grueling tours, he said to me, 'I gave myself 15 years to make it or break it in Joburg, and then go home.' So he resigned, and Juluka came to an end — but I was still full of the fire of music and dance. And so I took the dancer from Juluka and the drummer and myself, and then that just took off."
That band was Savuka — which means "We Have Risen" in Zulu. "Savuka was launched basically in the state of emergency in South Africa, in 1986," Clegg observes. "You could not ignore what was going on. The entire Savuka project was based in the South African experience and the fight for a better quality of life and freedom for all."YouTube https://youtu.be/JeR_DgPJRrI
A lot of Savuka's songs were restricted or banned in South Africa. But eventually, they were embraced. The song "One Human, One Vote" was released in 1989, the year the country held its first universal election. As much as those songs were rooted in a very particular time and place, though, Clegg believes that the messages were timeless. "I think the music that we made at the time has that universal appeal," he says, "because you can go to the songs and you can hear the echoes of thousands of struggles that happened over centuries."
After Savuka disbanded, Johnny Clegg went solo. In 2015, Queen Elizabeth made him an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. He's writing his autobiography, and he's just released a new album called King Of Time. He's planning to compose some music for film, and thinking about a few collaborations. But he says this U.S. tour, which mixes songs and dancing with anecdotes about his journey, will be his last. "It's a very bittersweet undertaking, to be honest with you," he says.
Not long after the tour ends, Clegg plans to head home to South Africa. "The future is open-ended," he muses. "I have my two sons. One is a musician, one's a filmmaker. They're up and running in the world. So my wife and I have an open road now — to do what we want to do."
Just as Johnny Clegg has done for all of his life.
Johnny Clegg, Entertains The Audience at The 2018 SMF Golf Classic
The Seena Magowitz Foundation's 16th Annual Golf Classic held in Boston August 25-27, 2018 was blessed by the attendance of the world-renown singer-songwriter Johnny Clegg who entertained the audience at the weekend event with a couple of his famous songs. Johnny Clegg is now battling advanced pancreatic cancer and joined us at the Classic Event all the way from South Africa. What an amazing inspiration this man his. His compassion for the equality of people is evident in his unique style of song and entertainment based upon his love of the Zulu culture. Clegg fell in love with Zulu dancing, just as much as with the music, and dancing opened up a whole new channel of being for Clegg. "It was like capoeira, or martial arts, to music," he explains. "You kick high, and you stamp the ground, which is symbolically delivering a blow to an enemy or receiving a blow and how you would recover. So it's a kind of warrior theater." Enjoy. We all need to be Warriors in the fight against pancreatic cancer. Thank you Johnny for being such an inspiration for the cause. We were all indeed humbled by the generosity of your presence at the 2018 SMF Classic. Godspeed. His Video Tribute To Meslson Mandela (1999) https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_co... Tribute To Johnny Clegg https://www.npr.org/sections/therecor... Seena Magowitz Foundation For Pancreatic Cancer Research https://www.facebook.com/Seena.Magowi... Seena Magowitz Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/Seena.Magowi...
PT1: Johnny Clegg embarks on The Final Journey World Tour
Award-winning South African singer songwriter Johnny Clegg will perform a final set of shows in South Africa and overseas as a way to thank his fans for their continued support.
The Impi hitmaker who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two years ago, will bring the curtain down nearly 40 years after he began one of music's most remarkable careers.
Lebo Thinane sat down with the legendary musician and spoke about amongst other things about the final Journey World Tour which takes place at the TicketPro Dome on November 11th.
Chat with Jonny Clegg + performance | 26 June 2017
Johnny Clegg live on Kfm Mornings
Legend, Johnny Clegg, live on #KfmMornings with Darren, Sherlin and Sibs.
Johnny Clegg | Final Journey
Tonight with Jane Dutton | Johnny Clegg special | 18 December 2018
Johnny Clegg opens up about South Africa and its strengths and shortcomings, his love for the country's cultures and his choice of isiZulu at the time when apartheid enforced cultural segregation.
Johnny Clegg - I've Been Looking ft. Jesse Clegg
I've been looking for something to lose
I've been looking for something to prove
Oh well, it's hard to even tell
I've been looking for a brighter day
I've been looking for the words to say
Oh well, it's hard to find yourself
Looking at the sky and wondering how I got here
All I wanna do is tell you 'bout my fear
Standing on the edge and looking at your face
To tell you how I feel
To tell you how I feel
These are the things I can't replace
I've been living in an empty room
Walking in someone else's shoes
Oh well, it's hard to find yourself
I've been waiting on another view
I've been holding out the light for you
Oh well, it's hard to even tell
Looking at the sky and wondering how I got here
All I wanna do is tell you 'bout my fear
Standing on the edge and looking at your face
To tell you how I feel
To tell you how I feel
These are the things I can't replace
Oh oh oh ey ooo
Oh oh oh ey ooo
Oh oh oh ey ooo
Oh oh ooo ooo
Oh oh oh ey ooo
Oh oh oh ey ooo
Oh oh oh ey ooo
Oh oh ooo ooo
Looking at the sky and wondering how I got here
(Oh oh oh ey ooo)
All I wanna do is tell you 'bout my fear
(Oh oh oh ey ooo)
Standing on the edge and looking at your face
(Oh oh oh ey ooo)
To tell you how I feel
(Oh oh oh ey ooo)
To tell you how I feel
(Oh oh oh ey ooo)
Standing on the edge and looking at your face
(Oh oh oh ey ooo)
To tell you how I feel
(Oh oh oh ey ooo)
To tell you how I feel
(Oh oh oh ey ooo)
To tell you how I feel
(Oh oh oh ey ooo)
To tell you how I feel
(Oh oh oh ey ooo)
I've been looking for a brighter day
I've been looking for the words to say
Oh well, it's hard to even tellIch habe nach etwas gesucht, das ich verlieren kann
Ich habe nach etwas gesucht, das ich beweisen kann.
Ach ja, es ist schwer zu sagen
Ich habe nach einem helleren Tag gesucht
Ich habe nach den Worten gesucht, die ich sagen kann
Ach ja, es ist schwer, sich selbst zu finden
Ich schaue in den Himmel und frage mich, wie ich hierher gekommen bin
Ich will dir nur von meiner Angst erzählen
Am Rand stehen und auf dein Gesicht schauen
Um dir zu sagen, wie ich mich fühle
Um dir zu sagen, wie ich mich fühle
Das sind die Dinge, die ich nicht ersetzen kann
Ich habe in einem leeren Raum gelebt
In den Schuhen eines anderen gelaufen.
Ach ja, es ist schwer, sich selbst zu finden
Ich habe auf eine andere Sicht gewartet
Ich habe das Licht für dich gehalten
Ach ja, es ist schwer zu erklären
Ich schaue in den Himmel und frage mich, wie ich hierher gekommen bin
Ich will dir nur von meiner Angst erzählen
An der Schwelle stehen und auf dein Gesicht schauen
Um dir zu sagen, wie ich mich fühle
Um dir zu sagen, wie ich mich fühle
Das sind die Dinge, die ich nicht ersetzen kann
Oh oh oh ey ooo
Oh oh oh ey ooo
Oh oh oh ey ooo
Oh oh ooo ooo
Oh oh oh ey ooo
Oh oh oh ey ooo
Oh oh oh ey ooo
Oh oh ooo ooo
Ich schaue in den Himmel und frage mich, wie ich hierher gekommen bin
(Oh oh oh ey ooo)
Ich will dir nur von meiner Angst erzählen
(Oh oh oh ey ooo)
An der Schwelle stehen und auf dein Gesicht schauen
(Oh oh oh ey ooo)
Um dir zu sagen, wie ich mich fühle
(Oh oh oh ey ooo)
Um dir zu sagen, wie ich mich fühle
(Oh oh oh ey ooo)
An der Schwelle stehen und auf dein Gesicht schauen
(Oh oh oh ey ooo)
Um dir zu sagen, wie ich mich fühle
(Oh oh oh ey ooo)
Um dir zu sagen, wie ich mich fühle
(Oh oh oh ey ooo)
Um dir zu sagen, wie ich mich fühle
(Oh oh oh ey ooo)
Um dir zu sagen, wie ich mich fühle
(Oh oh oh ey ooo)
Ich habe nach einem helleren Tag gesucht
Ich habe nach den Worten gesucht, die ich sagen kann
Ach ja, es ist schwer zu erklären
Johnny Clegg, one of South Africa's most prolific musicians, will make his return to The Baxter Theatre in Cape Town (after 10 years) in September 2013. Johnny will be delighting his fans with rare unplugged performances at the theatre from 18 to 22 September 2013. This very intimate show will include storytelling by Johnny Clegg, where he talks about the events in his life and political history of South Africa and the world at that time that motivated him to write that song. It is a personal journey, which is uplifting, moving and also humorous at times. Johnny Clegg has sold more than five million albums worldwide. He has wowed audiences with his live shows, including performances with Nelson Mandela, and won a number of national and international awards for his music and for his outspoken views on apartheid and migrant workers in South Africa. He has released two dozen albums, the most recent of which is Human, in 2010.
