The life and times of King Sobhuza’s ‘royal minstrel’
Johnny Clegg’s music and life itself was implicitly en explicitly political and defiant of the apartheid system.
By simply forming his first band with a black co-artist, he was in contravention of the country’s apartheid laws, which sought to separate people by race and culture.
In the mid-1970s Clegg and Sipho Mchunu, a migrant worker and guitarist from KwaZulu-Natal, formed an acoustic Zulu musical duo called Juluka (meaning sweat), while he was an anthropology student at the University of Witwatersrand.
Clegg joined the university, pursuing an academic career for four years.
In 1976 Clegg and Mchunu enlarged their inter-racial band, secured a major recording deal, and made their first hit single, Woza Friday.
King Sobhuza II of Swaziland [now eSwatini] named Clegg an official “royal minstrel”.
During this period, Clegg worked on bringing together English lyrics and Western melodies and Zulu musical structures. In this he was spectacularly successful and set the standard for the Afro-Anglo “crossover” popular musical ensembles of the 1980s.
The formation of Juluka contravened the apartheid laws, so their music was censored and banned, and the only way to access audiences was by touring. In 1979 Juluka’s first full album,
Universal Men, was released. The collection wove together seamlessly English and Zulu folk balladry and dance, providing an affecting melodic and rhythmic platform for lyrics of outstanding literary quality.
In 1982 and 1983 Juluka toured the US, Canada, the UK, Germany and Scandinavia. The group split in 1985 and, in 1986, Clegg formed another band, Savuka, mixing African music with Celtic folk rock sounds.
As a songwriter, Clegg produced some explicitly political songs. For example, the album Work
For All included trade union slogans. Even more explicit was the Savuka album Third World Child in 1987, with songs like
Asimbonanga. The song called for the release of Nelson Mandela and featured the names of three martyrs of the liberation struggle – Steve Biko, Victoria Mxenge and Neil Aggett. Source: Wits University’s Honorary Degree Citation for Clegg