Le Zulu Blanc

photo by Anne Walsh Wertz

Johnny Clegg is a music legend and one of South Africa’s most celebrated sons. He is a singer, a songwriter, a dancer, an 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.

I saw him perform a couple of his most famous songs at the Nelson Mandela Memorial Tribute at the Nelson Mandela Foundation Centre of Memory, including Asimbonanga, my favorite Johnny Clegg song. He was one of a long line of performers and speakers who were there to celebrate the life of Nelson Mandela. His performance left me wanting more.

photo by Anne Walsh Wertz

The opportunity arose yesterday as part of the Old Mutual Music in the Gardens concert series at the Pretoria National Botanical Gardens on a beautiful winter's day. Ah, you gotta love winter in Gauteng! Temperate climate pleasant enough for a picnic in the garden on a Sunday afternoon.

Johnny was born in England to an English father and a Zimbabwean mother and was brought up by his mother in Zimbabwe. He moved to South Africa after his mother married a South African journalist when he was seven. Johnny's mother was a cabaret and jazz singer and his step-father a crime reporter who took Johnny with him in the the early 60's into the townships, exposing him to a broader cultural landscape than would have typically been available to a white South African boy.

photo by Anne Walsh Wertz

It was in the 70's at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, where Johnny was by then a lecturer in Anthropology, that he conceived the concept of blending English lyrics and Western melodies with Zulu musical structures. This blend was recognised by a South African producer, Hilton Rosenthal, who became the champion of the project and drove it with passion and commitment. He signed up Johnny and Sipho Mchunu (his songwriting and performance partner at the time) to his independent label at a time when mixing music was effectively unprofitable because of the radio censorship of mixed music and mixed bands.

At this time they could only play in private venues as the law forbade mixed race performances in public venues and spaces. Testing the law, they played at universities, church halls, migrant labour hostels and even in the lounges of private houses. The battle ground of public versus private performances was often challenged by the security police who attempted to close these down whenever they could. Many shows were closed down but not enough to prevent the emergence of a substantial following of students and migrant workers.

photo by Anne Walsh Wertz

In late 1979 their first album, Universal Men, was released. The album was a musical journey into the life of the Zulu migrant worker, living and working in the city, but continually journeying home, caught between two different worlds.

His 40 year musical career has been rich and varied and he has amassed a long legacy of songs, albums, awards and historic appearances. Johnny Clegg performed on all four of Nelson Mandela’s 46664 Aids Awareness Concerts in South Africa and in Norway. Mandela has joined him on stage during the rendition of Asimbonanga, a song written by Johnny about Mandela (and other struggle heroes) during his period of incarceration. At every live performance of this song, the audience, charged with emotion, spontaneously rises to their feet. During the Cape Town and Tromso 46664 shows, Johnny also performed duets of his work with Peter Gabriel (who was in the audience at the Mandela Tribute last December.)

He has a new album out and if his performance in Pretoria is any indication, his legacy will keep on growing.