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.
Digging For Some Words
Johnny Clegg Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Wanderers and nomads have gone to see their chieftains
Will this be the end of the rain and the birds?
Who can send an emissary to speak to the seasons?
For the ravens and the crows already soak up the skies...
I'm digging for some words beneath the stones in zimbabwe
I'm searching for a drum song in the jungles of zaire
I'm groping for the blood-moon in the mountains of malawi
The setting dusk is darkened by the bark of the baboon
The frogs and the owls no longer call to the moon
The warlords have gathered, blue smoke hiss from teeth of chrome
And the baobab lies trembling in the boiling blood-loam
The fireplace is broken and the grinding stone too
Its million pieces flung across the plains of africa
Each dusty fragment a seed from which grows
The memory of a debt that only you and I will know
Chorus
Seven seasoned soldiers have been summoned from saigon
A craven walkie talkie puts their bloodshot armor on
Some drink beer milk, some drink kinky-kola
Sheep dogs live in outeniqua
Gun dogs in angola
Flames lick the corners of each hungry horseman's smile
They have locusts in their scabbards and deserts in their eyes
Passing through the air they leave a sea of fetid rumors
As they ride across the skyline on a secret trail of lies
Chorus
I found some words beneath a stone in zimbabwe
I heard a distant drum song in the jungles of zaire
The blood-moon spoke of war in the mountains of malawi
But I never found the lion of ethiopia
Chorus
The song "Digging For Some Words" by Johnny Clegg is a piece that invokes imagery of the African landscape and the people and animals that inhabit it. The chorus speaks of wanderers and nomads who have gone to see their chieftains, and the uncertain future that lies ahead. The singer asks who can send an emissary to speak to the seasons, as the sky is already filled with ravens and crows. The first verse describes the singer's search for words, a drum song, and the lion of Ethiopia in Zimbabwe, Zaire, and Malawi respectively. The second verse paints a picture of a darkening sky, warlords, and a broken fireplace and grinding stone. The final verse speaks of seven seasoned soldiers summoned from Vietnam, and how they leave behind "a sea of fetid rumors" on a secret trail of lies.
Overall, the song seems to reflect on the uncertainty and turmoil that is often present in African countries. The search for words and the lion of Ethiopia could symbolize a search for answers and guidance in difficult times, and the warlords and soldiers represent the violence and conflict that has plagued many African countries.
Line by Line Meaning
Wanderers and nomads have gone to see their chieftains
People are seeking guidance from their leaders
Will this be the end of the rain and the birds?
Are we witnessing the end of nature as we know it?
Who can send an emissary to speak to the seasons?
Can anyone communicate with the forces of nature?
For the ravens and the crows already soak up the skies...
The presence of scavengers signals a bleak future
I'm digging for some words beneath the stones in zimbabwe
I'm searching for meaning in a place with rich history and culture
I'm searching for a drum song in the jungles of zaire
I'm looking for rhythm and connection with the primal world
I'm groping for the blood-moon in the mountains of malawi
I'm seeking a deeper understanding of the celestial events that shape our world
Looking for the lion of ethiopia...
Searching for a powerful and symbolic creature
The setting dusk is darkened by the bark of the baboon
The natural world is communicating warning signals
The frogs and the owls no longer call to the moon
Life in the wilderness is disappearing
The warlords have gathered, blue smoke hiss from teeth of chrome
Human conflict and violence is brewing
And the baobab lies trembling in the boiling blood-loam
Even the most stalwart and venerable natural features are fearful
The fireplace is broken and the grinding stone too
Tools and symbols of daily life have been destroyed
Its million pieces flung across the plains of africa
Debris and waste are scattered across the landscape
Each dusty fragment a seed from which grows
Even in destruction, potential for rebirth exists
The memory of a debt that only you and I will know
The burden of history and obligation falls on individuals
Seven seasoned soldiers have been summoned from saigon
A group of battle-tested warriors have been called to action
A craven walkie talkie puts their bloodshot armor on
Modern technology enables violence and dehumanizes soldiers
Some drink beer milk, some drink kinky-kola
The diversities of culture are present even in conflict zones
Sheep dogs live in outeniqua
Domesticated animals thrive where wild ones once roamed
Gun dogs in angola
Animals are used for human purposes even in wartime
Flames lick the corners of each hungry horseman's smile
Violent conflict brings joy to some and horror to others
They have locusts in their scabbards and deserts in their eyes
The consequences of violence are expressed in symbolic and emotional ways
Passing through the air they leave a sea of fetid rumors
The rumor and gossip surrounding violence spreads quickly
As they ride across the skyline on a secret trail of lies
The actions of those in power are often clouded in deception
I found some words beneath a stone in zimbabwe
Meaning and purpose can be found in unexpected places
I heard a distant drum song in the jungles of zaire
Connection and meaning can be found in primal rhythm
The blood-moon spoke of war in the mountains of malawi
Symbolic events warn of impending conflict
But I never found the lion of ethiopia
The search for a powerful symbol remains elusive
Contributed by Kaitlyn I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@ivanstrydom9949
Luv this song!
@restioson6787
Really one of his best. Great harmony in the singing.
@skinnynoris353
Moves me