Translation of CD-review by Stefan Franzen as published in the German December 2006 edition of the Rolling Stone Magazine
*** (of possible 5*): In our capacity as veteran Rolling Stone reader we would like to add that 4 - 5* are a rarity - Chris & Marion Kober.
“As expected: Melodic guitar-pop with Zulu hues”
“Has a quarter of a century really passed since “Scatterlings of Africa”? The “white Zulu” has been in the music business since the end of the seventies and his first hits preceded the popularity of world-music. Given the fact that world-music has ebbed away, Clegg’s sound has survived – unimpressed by the tides of time. But it would be totally misleading to deduce that this recording is prone to boredom! “One Life” consists of 15 songs with more than a fair share of hit potential ranging from melodic guitar-pop and down to earth Zulu vocals and rhythm elements. The opener with a Latin foundation is unusual - but the man from Jo’burg really gets started with the second song, the stamping hymn “Jongosi”, which fills all the recording tracks bombastically and definitely does not treat the Afro-choruses parsimoniously. So Clegg has returned to home turf again.
The musical strategy of Juluka and Savuka passed the test of time, and was simple but effective: Thick and stringently applied layers of rhythm section and down to earth Zulu vocals intermingled with swinging guitar riffs and Clegg’s challenging nasal narration.
Clegg is most impressive when he leaves the beaten track - for example in “Bull Heart” which is pregnant with testosterone and a slightly snotty guitar - or in the easygoing trot of “Thamela” with verses in Afrikaans, a wheezing concertina and a snorting Zulu-chorus – or the extraordinary harmonies of the refrain of “Touch the Sun”.
Clegg’s lyrics at times tend to be too politically correct - they are deeply concerned with the abuse of political power and children as soldiers but they also hark back to Zulu wisdom and the melancholy of bygone days. Considering the rapid development of urban South African music this recording may make a slightly antiquated impression, but quite a few “solid” songs do not shy the comparison with Clegg’s most creative phases.”
Photos of Johnny´s last tour
Johnny Clegg: A short biography
Johnny Clegg was born July 13,1953 – close to Manchester U.K. - son of an RAF fighter pilot and an aspiring Jewish jazz singer. His parents divorced when their son was still a baby and after a short stay in Israel Clegg’s mother moved back to her home Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) .J.C.: “There is something unbelievable about my mother – she always dreamed to be Ella Fitzgerald – and for this reason she was able to understand from the depth of her heart the longing for a form of music that transcends cultural as well as genre limitations.”
In 1961 Clegg’s mother married the South African intellectual and journalist Dan Pienaar and moved to Johannesburg. Clegg’s stepfather did not only introduce him to a singular collection of kwela music from the black townships but also to the injustice of apartheid. After a short stay in Zambia, Clegg’s parents returned to Johannesburg, where his father “taught percussion and drumming to a horn section in Alexandra”, a township, which was razed to the ground to make place for a white residential district called Triomf. Meanwhile young Johnny learned to play classical guitar until he met Charlie Mzila (1967) and Sipho Mchunu (1969), who taught him the challenges of Zulu or Maskande-guitar. Clegg’s formative music instruction took place in the townships, a no-go zone for whites, but he was accepted in the Zulu community – and he himself faced and accepted the challenges posed by Sipho Mchunu’s mastery of the Maskande guitar, the intricacies of the Zulu language and the art of Zulu dancing and stick-fighting. So the townships were the roots of a white musician, who is now a warrior of the Zulu nation. J.C.:”I imagined myself to be a sort of cultural Tarzan at the time.”
Clegg studied ethnology at the University of Witwatersrand and lectured there until 1982, when he decided to dedicate himself completely to his music and the fate of the oppressed black majority.
Sipho Mchunu and Clegg had their first local hit in 1976 with their single “Woza Friday”. The unique blend of English lyrics with rock as well as Zulu music led to Juluka, a band which inevitably provoked the Apartheid regime. Increasing audience support helped Juluka overcome the restrictions of radio and concert censorship. After the first album “Universal Men”, Juluka’s second album “African Litany” was their breakthrough in 1981 and after their third album “Ubuhle Bemvelo”, Juluka started to tour internationally up until 1985. Savuka was Clegg’s new project - a group which emphasized cross-over elements as well as Celtic and global music to a greater extent. Even though Clegg was preoccupied with international obligations he supported Sipho Mchunu’s solo career at home and with the end of apartheid 1990 as well as Savuka 1993, Clegg and Mchunu established Juluka again. International recognition found its culmination 1999 in the Jahrhunderthalle-Concert in Frankfurt, Germany, when Juluka joined Nelson Mandela on stage to sing “Asimbonanga” together.
And how did and will Clegg’s musical journey continue? In 2002 Clegg released his first solo-album “New World Survivor”, followed by a Live-CD entitled “A South African History” as well as a stage-show in South Africa 2003 and a DVD- compilation containing “historical “ and contemporary material. International gigs in North America and Europe – especially France - are time-consuming and for this reason it is more than understandable that Clegg fans have had to wait for a new album, which was issued in November 2006 during a European concert-tour. Enjoy the new album “One Life” and check out the Rolling Stone review on this homepage!
“Bits of song and broken drums
are all he can recall
So he spoke to me in a bastard tongue
Carried on the silence of the guns.”
from “Third World Child “
Complete Disography:
• 1978 The Cologne Zulu Festival (1992)
• 1979 African Litany
• 1979 Universal Men
• 1982 Scatterlings (European version)
• 1982 Ubuhle bemvelo
• 1983 Work for All
• 1984 Musa ukugilandela
• 1984 Stand Your Ground
• 1984 The international tracks
• 1985 The Johnny Clegg & Savuka ep
• 1985 Third World Child
• 1986 The good hope concert
• 1988 Shadow Man
• 1990 Cruel Crazy Beautiful World
• 1991 Scatterlings of Juluka
• 1992 The Best of Juluka
• 1994 In my African Dream
• 1994 Live and Rarities
• 1995 Heat, Dust and Dreams
• 1996 A Johnny Clegg and Juluka Collection
• 1996 Scatterlings (US version)
• 1997 Crocodile Love
• 1997 Premium Gold Collection
• 1997 The Very Best of Johnny Clegg & Savuka
• 1998 Le Rock Zoulou de Johnny Clegg & Sipho Mchunu
• 1999 The Johnny Clegg Anthology
• 2000 The Best of Juluka / Savuka
• 2002 New World Survivor
• 2003 Live and More (DVD)
• 2003 Jane Goodall´s Wild Chimpanzees (Soundtrack)
• 2006 Heart of the Dancer (remix)
• 2007 One Life