‘White Zulu’ heads to palace

SOUTH African music icon Johnny Clegg, who has been awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth, joked that he may “rock up at Buckingham Palace” wearing traditional Zulu attire.

The newly minted Officer of the Order of the British Empire was not sure when he would be invited to the palace to receive the honour, but said: “Maybe there’s a traditional [dress option] . . . and it depends if it’s in winter, but maybe I’ll rock up in my beshu.”

Yesterday the queen included Clegg in her birthday honours list in recognition of his three decades of cultural activism.

The British high commissioner to South Africa, Judith Macgregor, said: “This is a recognition of Johnny’s unique services to the arts, vulnerable people and children and to democracy in South Africa.”

Clegg, who is also a French knight, said of the OBE: “It came out of the blue like a bolt of lightning, it’s just a wonderful moment of recognition and validation and I’m enjoying that.”

Does he feel like a national treasure yet?

“[Awards] just kind of layer themselves into my life. I’m the kind of person who, whether it’s success or failure, I just keep moving on. I’ve always tried to look for new things, new discoveries . . . that’s the way you keep your artistic juices alive.”

In 1979, with Sipho Mchunu, Clegg’s first group Juluka released an album that gave life to a sound Clegg had in his head as a young boy — “a mixture of Zulu and English folk music and maskanda guitar music”.

“When it came out I was very aware we’d made something absolutely new,” Clegg said.