Sometimes called Le Zoulou Blanc, he is an important figure in South African popular music history, with songs that mix Zulu with English lyrics and African with various Western music styles.
Clegg was born in Bacup, Lancashire, to an English father and a Rhodesian mother. Clegg's mother's family were Jewish immigrants from Poland, and Clegg had a secular Jewish upbringing, learning about the Ten Commandments but refusing to have a bar mitzvah or even associate with other Jewish children at school. His parents divorced when he was still an infant, and he moved with his mother to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and then, at the age of 6, to South Africa, also spending less than a year in Israel during childhood.
As an adolescent in Johannesburg's northern suburbs, he encountered the demi-monde of the city's Zulu migrant workers' music and dance. Under the tutelage of Charlie Mzila, a flat cleaner by day and musician by night, Clegg mastered both the Zulu language and the maskandi guitar and isishameni dance styles of the migrants. Clegg's involvement with black musicians often led to arrests for trespassing on government property and for contravening the Group Areas Act. He was first arrested at the age of 15 for violating apartheid-era laws in South Africa banning people of different races from congregating together after curfew hours. At the age of 17, he met Sipho Mchunu, a Zulu migrant worker with whom he began performing music. The partnership, which they named Johnny & Sipho and then Juluka, was profiled in the 1970s television documentary Beats of the Heart: Rhythm of Resistance.
As a young man, Clegg pursued an academic career for four years, lecturing at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and the University of Natal, and writing several seminal scholarly papers on Zulu music and dance. In the early stages of his musical career, Clegg combined his music with the study of anthropology at Wits, where he was influenced, among others, by the work of David Webster, a social anthropologist who was later assassinated in 1989. He preceded each song with snippets of Zulu culture, information, commentary, humor and personal anecdotes relevant and unique to that song. An engaged social anthropologist, he not only mastered the theories but delved into the culture and disseminated it.
Juluka was an unusual musical partnership for the time in South Africa, with a white man (Clegg) and a black man (Mchunu) performing together. The band, which grew to a six-member group (with three white musicians and three black musicians) by the time it released its first album Universal Men in 1979, faced harassment and censorship, with Clegg later remarking that it was "impossible" to perform in public in South Africa.[9] The group tested the apartheid-era laws, touring and performing in private venues, including universities, churches, hostels, and even private homes in order to attract an audience, as national broadcasters would not play their music. Just as unusually, the band's music combined Zulu, Celtic, and rock elements, with both English and isiZulu lyrics. Those lyrics often contained coded political messages and references to the battle against apartheid, although Clegg has maintained that Juluka was not originally intended to be a political band. "Politics found us," he told The Baltimore Sun in 1996. In a 1989 interview with the Sunday Times, Clegg denied the label of "political activist." "For me a political activist is someone who has committed himself to a particular ideology. I don’t belong to any political party. I stand for human rights."
Juluka's music was both implicitly and explicitly political; not only was the fact of the success of the band (which openly celebrated African culture in a bi-racial band) a thorn in the flesh of a political system based on racial separation, the band also produced some explicitly political songs. For example, the album Work for All (which includes a song with the same title) picked up on South African trade union slogans in the mid-1980s. As a result of their political messages and racial integration, Clegg and other band members were arrested several times and concerts routinely broken up.
Despite being ignored and often harassed by the South African government at home, Juluka were able to tour internationally, playing in Europe, Canada, and the United States, and had two platinum and five gold albums, becoming an international success. The group was disbanded in 1985, when Mchunu returned to his rural home to care for his family.
Together with the black musician and dancer Dudu Zulu, Clegg went on to form his second inter-racial band, Savuka, in 1986, continuing to blend African music with European influences. The group's first album, Third World Child, broke international sales records in several European countries, including France. The band went on to record several more albums, including Heat, Dust and Dreams, which received a Grammy Award nomination. Johnny Clegg and Savuka played both at home and abroad, even though Clegg's refusal to stop performing in apartheid-era South Africa created tensions with the international anti-apartheid movement and led to his expulsion from the British Musicians' Union. In one instance, the band drew such a large crowd in Lyon that Michael Jackson cancelled a concert there, complaining that Clegg and his group had "stolen all his fans". In 1993, the band dissolved after Dudu Zulu was shot and killed while attempting to mediate a taxi war.
Briefly reunited in the mid-1990s, Clegg and Mchunu reformed Juluka, released a new album, and toured throughout the world in 1996 with King Sunny Ade. Since then, Clegg has recorded several solo albums. His touring schedule was abbreviated in 2017 after undergoing surgery for pancreatic cancer, and Clegg performed his last scheduled tour date in Maritius in October of 2018. During one concert in 1999, he was joined onstage by South African President Nelson Mandela, who danced as he sang the protest song Savuka had dedicated to him, "Asimbonanga". Asimbonanga became something of an anthem for the Mass Democratic Movement's umbrella organisation, the United Democratic Front. During Mandela's illness and death in 2013, the video of the concert attracted considerable media attention outside South Africa.
His song "Scatterlings of Africa" gave him his only entries in the UK Singles Chart to date, reaching No. 44 in February 1983 with Juluka and 75 in May 1987 as Johnny Clegg and Savuka. The following year the song was featured on the soundtrack to the 1988 Oscar-winning film Rain Man.
His song "Life is a Magic Thing" was featured in Ferngully.
Savuka's song "Dela" was featured on the soundtrack of the 1997 film George of the Jungle and its 2003 sequel, while "Great Heart" was the title song for the 1986 film Jock of the Bushveld. "Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World" was featured in the 1990 film Opportunity Knocks and 1991 film Career Opportunities. "Great Heart" was also the end credits song for the 2000 Disney movie Whispers: An Elephant's Tale. In 2002 Clegg provided several songs and incidental background music for Jane Goodall's "Wild Chimpanzees" DVD. Included in the extras on the disc are rare scenes of Clegg in the recording studio.
Jimmy Buffett recorded "Great Heart" for his 1988 album, Hot Water.
He co-wrote "Diggah Tunnah" with Lebo M. for Disney's 2004 direct-to-video animated film The Lion King 1½.
Clegg was awarded the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres (Knight of Arts and Letters) by the French Government in 1991.
In 2004, he was voted 23rd in the SABC3's Great South Africans.
In 2007, Clegg received an honorary doctorate in music from the University of the Witwatersrand.
In 2011, Clegg received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from City University of New York School of Law.
In 2012, Clegg received the Order of Ikhamanga,Silver as part of the National Orders ceremony. This award is the highest honour a citizen can receive in South Africa. It was presented by President Jacob Zuma.
In 2012, Clegg received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.
In 2013, Clegg received an honorary Doctorate in Music from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
In 2015, Clegg was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
Clegg's son Jesse Clegg is also a recording artist. Displaying a style markedly different from that of his father, in 2008 he released his debut album When I Wake Up. As a rock musician, the younger Clegg has quickly built up a following, with the album being nominated for two South African Music Awards.
Clegg was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2015. Clegg died in his Johannesburg home on 16 July 2019.
Bibliography
Clegg, Jonathan (1981). Phil Bonner (ed.). ""Ukubuyisa Isidumbu", "Bringing back the body": An examination of the ideology of vengeance in the Msinga and Mpofana Rural Locations, 1822–1944". Working Papers in Southern African Studies. Johannesburg: Ravan Press. 2.
Clegg, Jonathan (1981). Andrew Tracey (ed.). "The Music of Zulu Immigrant Workers in Johannesburg: A Focus on Concertina and Guitar". Papers presented at the Symposium on Ethnomusicology. Grahamstown: International Library of African Music.
Clegg, Jonathan (1982). Andrew Tracey (ed.). "Towards an understanding of African Dance: The Zulu Isishameni Style". Papers read at Second Symposium on Ethnomusicology, 24–26 September 1981, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa. Grahamstown: Institute of Social and Economic Research.
Boy Soldier
Johnny Clegg Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Look into my eyes
I'm tired and older
Than the dead man by my side
I can take your soul
In a flash and a smile
And my home, and my name, and my life
Every second in no man's land
I hold my life in these small hands
Every day in a world gone mad
Hard to face who I am
Once we were children
Once we played in the morning light
Once we were chidren
One morning they came
The soldiers took us away
I am a boy soldier
See my eyes' empty stare
Each day explodes with pain
And it's more than I can bare
The ghosts of the slain
Are the shadows in my eyes
And I dream tomorrow will come
And carry me away
Every second in No Man's Land
I hold my life in these small hands
Every day in a world gone mad
Hard to face who I am
Once we were children
Once we played in the morning light
Once we were dreamers
One morning they came
The soldiers took us away
The song Boy Soldier by Johnny Clegg presents a powerful and heartbreaking portrayal of the war from the perspective of a young boy. The lyrics speak of a boy soldier who has been taken away from his childhood, his family and his home, forced to fight in a conflict that he may not fully understand. The opening lines "I am a boy soldier, look into my eyes, I'm tired and older than the dead man by my side" effectively convey the emotional turmoil that the boy is going through. Despite being too young to comprehend the horrors of war, he has already witnessed death and destruction, which has aged him beyond his years.
The song captures the gravity of war and the impact it has on the lives of innocent children who are thrown into the midst of the conflict. The lyrics "Every second in no man's land, I hold my life in these small hands. Every day in a world gone mad, hard to face who I am" highlight the vulnerability of the boy, who is faced with the harsh reality that his life is constantly on the line. He is forced to grow up quickly and face the atrocities of war, which can be too much for a child to bear. However, even amidst the chaos, the boy holds onto the hope of escaping the war and returning to a normal life.
The song is a poignant reminder of the heartbreaking reality of war and its impact on innocent lives. It serves as a powerful call to action to end the use of child soldiers in conflict and to protect the innocence of children across the world.
Line by Line Meaning
I am a boy soldier
I am a young boy who has been forced into becoming a soldier
Look into my eyes
Take a closer look at the pain and suffering that I have endured as a child soldier
I'm tired and older
I have been forced to grow up too fast and carry the burden of war on my shoulders
Than the dead man by my side
I have seen so much death that it has become a normal part of my life
I can take your soul
I have been trained to kill without remorse and take lives without hesitation
In a flash and a smile
I can take a life with ease and it means nothing to me anymore
And my home, and my name, and my life
I have lost everything that once mattered to me, including my identity and sense of self
Lie so very far behind me
My past is a distant memory and my present reality is a constant battle for survival
Every second in no man's land
Every moment I spend in this war-torn land is a struggle for survival
I hold my life in these small hands
I am constantly aware of the fragility of life and how easily it can be taken away
Every day in a world gone mad
Every day is a battle for survival in a world that has lost its sanity
Hard to face who I am
It's difficult for me to recognize myself as a child soldier and to accept the violence I've been forced to commit
Once we were children
There was a time when we were innocent and free from the horrors of war
Once we played in the morning light
We used to enjoy the simple pleasures of childhood and the warmth of the morning sun
Once we were children
We were once carefree and unburdened by the harsh realities of life
One morning they came
Suddenly and unexpectedly, the soldiers came and took us away from our families and homes
The soldiers took us away
We were forced into a life of violence and war, robbing us of our childhood and our future
See my eyes' empty stare
My eyes reflect the pain and emptiness I feel as a result of being a child soldier
Each day explodes with pain
Every day is a struggle to survive and overcome the physical and emotional pain of war
And it's more than I can bare
It's unbearable to carry the weight of this pain and suffering every day
The ghosts of the slain
The memories of those I've killed haunt me every day and make it difficult to find peace
Are the shadows in my eyes
These memories are a constant presence in my mind and are reflected in my haunted eyes
And I dream tomorrow will come
I cling to the hope that someday this war will end and I can have a future
And carry me away
I dream of a life free from violence and war, where I can find peace and solace
Contributed by Gianna V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@susanlarhubarbe9475
This song came to mind on Sunday evening as I was watching the very good but disturbing movie ‘Beasts of No Nation’ starring Idris Elba.
@thesandsie13the2nd
my favorite song on this album. i dream of a day when there will be no such thing as child soldiers
@spackhollogay
Just looked on your profile and it says you're from the UK, so I thought I'd let you know he's playing in London in March. It's definitely worth a watch, he's great live.