Political strife can inspire great art, and Johnny Clegg’s
internationally successful musical career represents that intersection
of reality and creativity. The British-born, South African-raised
Clegg has spent almost four decades writing and performing songs that
reflect the topical and personal turmoil of life in his evolving
homeland, pre- and post-apartheid. There is a yearning quality to many
of Clegg’s songs, declarations of love, frustration, hope and
confusion that can be applied to South Africa’s slow path toward
enlightenment, to personal and community relationships, to
ever-changing life itself. The CD closes with a solemn but uplifting
version of “Asimbonanga,” Clegg’s tribute to the late Nelson
Mandela, himself a symbol of triumph over adversity and of the
unquenchability of the human spirit. Johnny Clegg is one of South
Africa’s most celebrated sons. He is a singer, a songwriter, a
dancer, anthropologist and a musical activist whose infectious
crossover music, a vibrant blend of Western pop and African Zulu
rhythms, has exploded onto the international scene and broken through
all the barriers in his own country. In France, where he enjoys a
massive following, he is fondly called Le Zulu Blanc – the white
Zulu. Johnny’s haunting refrain Impi (meaning “Zulu warriors” or
"War") regularly echoes within any South African Rugby stadium which,
together with his song Great Heart from the movie Jock of The Bushveld
and The Crossing (written for Dudu Ndlovu, his Zulu dance partner in
the Savuka era), has achieved anthem status with crowds in his home
country. Other notable hits penned by Johnny Clegg include, amongst
others, I Call Your Name, Scatterlings of Africa, African Sky Blue,
Take My Heart Away, African Shadow Man, December African Rain,
Kilimanjaro, Fever and many more.
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17/04/2016 Last update