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.
Spirit Is The Journey
Johnny Clegg Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Balanced on the edge of the sky
But something always stayed the same
Deep down inside
No matter where I've been the places don't count
Summer in a mountain town
No matter where I've been the places don't count
And I feel let down
Spirit is the journey
Body is the bus
I am the driver
From dust to dust
Spirit is a story
Body is a book
I am the writer
Together we flow
We hold on, and when the story ends
We hold on, until it begins again
We hold on, we hold on...
I never knew I had one
Till I saw yours shine
Spilling from your laughter
Sparkling in your eyes
Sharing my confusion, sharing my surprise
At finding part of me in you, alive
'Cause nobody told me
Spirit is the journey
Body is the bus
I am the driver
From dust to dust
Trying to be near you
Searching for a way
Listening to your life song
Before it fades away
We hold on, and when the story ends
We hold on, we hold on.
Spirit is the journey
Body is the bus
I am the driver from dust to dust
Now I'm falling, falling away
I hear you calling, calling my name
Spirit move on, move on
Pass my eyes on, on to the next one
I will be long gone, long gone
Across the distance, this divide
I will be with you forever
Till you reach the other side
So hold on, sing this life song
Sing "hold on, hold on, hold on
Hold on!"
The lyrics to Johnny Clegg & Savuka's "Spirit Is the Journey" are reflective and introspective, exploring the idea of the journey of life and the deeper meaning behind it. The verse "Ploughed the moon reached an island, balanced on the edge of the sky, but something always stayed the same, deep down inside" suggests that no matter how far one travels or how much they achieve, there is always a part of themselves that remains constant. The song continues to explore this concept, with the chorus providing the insight that the spirit is the journey and the body is merely a vessel. The singer acknowledges their own mortality and the idea that they are merely the driver of their own journey, and that life itself is fleeting.
The second verse delves into the idea of the interconnectedness of all living things, with the singer acknowledging that they did not realize they had a spirit until they saw it in someone else. The line "sharing my confusion, sharing my surprise, at finding part of me in you, alive" emphasizes the idea of the universality of human experience and the power of relationships to connect people. The song ends with a hopeful message of holding on, even when life gets tough, and the idea that the spirit lives on, even after the body has passed.
Line by Line Meaning
Ploughed the moon reached an island
I've been many places, even to the moon and to an island, but nothing has truly changed me
Balanced on the edge of the sky
Even though I have gone to high places and taken big risks, I feel like I am always on the verge of something great
But something always stayed the same
Despite all my experiences, there is something within me that remains constant
Deep down inside
This constant within me is at the core of my being, but it can't be seen from the outside
No matter where I've been the places don't count
No matter how far I travel or what I do, the external world doesn't define me
Summer in a mountain town
Even the most beautiful of places has not been enough to fill me up
And I feel let down
I am disappointed because nobody has informed me of the true nature of existence
Spirit is the journey
The true essence of life is found within the journey itself
Body is the bus
The body is simply a vehicle for the spirit; it is not the true self
I am the driver
We each have control over our own experiences and destinies
From dust to dust
Our lives are temporary and fleeting
Spirit is a story
We each have a unique story to tell through our experiences
Body is a book
Our bodies are like a book, telling the story of our lives
I am the writer
We are responsible for the direction of our own lives, and we each have the power to tell our own story
Together we flow
Our spirit and body work together to create our life's journey
We hold on, and when the story ends
We must hold on to our spirits until the end of our lives
We hold on, until it begins again
And then we hold on until we are reborn
I never knew I had one
I didn't realize I had a spirit until I saw yours shining
Till I saw yours shine
It was your spirit that helped me see and recognize my own
Spilling from your laughter
Your spirit can be seen in your joyful laughter
Sparkling in your eyes
Your spirit also shines bright in your eyes
Sharing my confusion, sharing my surprise
We share a connection through our spirits, even when we are confused and surprised by life
At finding part of me in you, alive
Seeing your spirit has helped me understand that I am part of something greater
Trying to be near you
I want to be close to you because of the connection we share through our spirits
Searching for a way
I am searching for a way to hold onto my own spirit and stay connected to yours
Listening to your life song
I am listening to your own unique story
Before it fades away
I want to appreciate your story while it is still being told
Now I'm falling, falling away
I am beginning to let go of my physical body and prepare to pass on from this world
I hear you calling, calling my name
Your spirit is calling to mine, reassuring me that we will always be connected
Spirit move on, move on
My spirit is moving on from this world to the next
Pass my eyes on, on to the next one
My spirit is moving on to the next life or next world
I will be long gone, long gone
I will have passed on from this world, but I will continue on through my spirit
Across the distance, this divide
Even though we may be separated by distance or death, our spirits remain connected
I will be with you forever
Our spirits will remain connected for eternity
Till you reach the other side
Until you also pass on from this world and join me on the next
Sing "hold on, hold on, hold on
In the meantime, we must hold onto our spirits and our connection until we are reunited
Hold on!"
So we must hold on, be patient, and trust in the journey of our spirits
Contributed by Micah O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@kudason
Takes me back to the 80's. My dad would play this album end-to-end on road trips. We were usually driving to the family homestead in the rural areas... mostly on long holidays. I remember driving through many towns, growth points, dust roads. Other trips where to Botswana, Kariba, Karoi and Vic Falls.
@Del-Lebo
Amazingly brilliant song. I have loved Juluka since their inception. Johnny Clegg is a genius! His Music must be remembered!
@cliffordblizard5431
Rest in peace, Johnny -- hold on....'til it begins again.....
@ingridharder9065
Spirit IS the journey!
@johnpape343
RIP Johnny Clegg
@allyson1691
💖💖💖🇿🇦
@robertmartin3539
spirit IS the jouney!!
@PONOLSTATION
UN DES MES DIX PLUS GRANDS TUBES DE JOHNNY CLEGG .
@emilytalley3687
I will be with you forever
@1kwhalley
300 views? Sad. Should be 300,000....and then some!