Johnny Clegg dies
MOURNED: LE ZOULOU BLANC SUCCUMBS TO CANCER IN JOHANNESBURG
The family will hold a private funeral and a public memorial service.
The family of legendary South African musician and academic Johnny Clegg have asked for privacy following the icon’s passing in Johannesburg yesterday at age 66.
Le Zoulou Blanc [The White Zulu], as he was affectionately known, had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2015.
Roddy Quin, Clegg’s manager and friend and family spokesperson, released a statement last night confirming his death.
“Johnny leaves deep footprints in the hearts of every person that considers him/herself to be an African. He showed us what it was to assimilate to and embrace other cultures without losing your identity,” wrote Quin.
“An anthropologist that used his music to speak to every person, with his unique style of music he traversed cultural barriers like few others. In many of us he awakened awareness.”
Clegg, who was born on June 7, 1953, in Bacup, Lancashire, England, moved to Johannesburg, with his Rhodesian mother when he was six years old.
His exposure to Zulu migrant workers during adolescence introduced
him to the language, culture and music.
Clegg’s involvement with black musicians often saw him arrested during apartheid, but this didn’t stop him from creating a lasting legacy the world over – after first bursting onto the music scene at the age of 17, when he formed band Juluka with Sipho Mchunu.
This was the precursor to the band Savuka, which he formed in 1986 with Dudu Zulu.
Clegg also recorded several solo albums and enjoyed international success, selling out concerts wherever he performed.
Lecturing at the universities of the Witwatersrand and Natal, he combined his anthropology studies with music.
In 2012 he received the Order of Ikhamanga from the government. He was also awarded by a number of local and international bodies for his contribution to music and society, notably by the French government in 1991 with a Knight of Arts and Letters, and in 2015 he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
Clegg was awarded a number of honorary doctorates by the universities of the Witwatersrand, KwaZulu-Natal, Dartmouth College [in the US] and the City University of New York.
He wrote the book UkuBuyisa Isidumbu and presented papers on “The Music of Zulu Immigrant Workers in Johannesburg” in 1981 at the Grahamstown International Library of African Music; and “Towards an Understanding of African Dance: The Zulu Isishameni Style” in 1982 at Rhodes University.
Clegg is survived by Jenny, his wife of 31 years, and their two sons Jesse and Jaron.
Quin said the family will be holding a private funeral service, and that details of a public service would be announced.
He leaves footprints in hearts of every person