Upcoming Concert: Johnny Clegg

I just bought tickets for the Johnny Clegg concert that is happening on February 20th at the Danforth Music Hall.

Clegg grew up in the UK, Israel, and Zimbabwe, but he has spent most of his life in South Africa. As a teenager, he became fascinated with Zulu street music and dancing. For a while he taught anthropology at the University of Witwatersran, but he is better known as the front man for two integrated bands: Jaluka (which he founded with Sipho Mchunu) and Savuka (which he formed when Mchunu returned home to take over the family farm).

I have been a big Clegg fan since the early 1980s. I first heard Jaluka on the CBC Vancouver morning show, and I immediately and went out to buy the Scatterlings album. Since then, I have purchased half a dozen other albums and have attended a concert where he opened for King Sunny Ade.

I used to wonder why his music was not more popular, but I suspect it has to do with two things. First, Clegg's music has always been overtly political and has attacked Apartheid (One (Hu)'Man One Vote), government death squads (Bullets for Bafazane), labour inequality (Work for All), and, most recently, Robert Mugabe (The Revolution will Eat Its Children). Secondly, while Clegg's bands are multi-ethnic and his music incorporates Zulu lyrics, rhythms, and instrumentation, he is still a white South African, and an immigrant at that. The fact that he has been pretty well adopted by the Zulus is of little consequence.

Anyhow, I am excited about the prospect of attending another concert. The one I attended back in Vancouver in the 90s was positively electric, with great music, fantastic dancing, and a gathering of truly dedicated fans who had attended Clegg concerts throughout the world.