Podcasts - 'The White Zulu" returns to Oz

Ajn Audio Podcasts - 'The White Zulu" returns to Oz
http://www.ajn.com.au/podcast/index.html

2 parts

"AJN deputy editor Lexi Landsman chats with iconic South African musician Johnny Clegg ahead of his tour Down Under at the End of May 2009. Clegg broke through South Africa's racial and political barriers during the apartheid with his crossover music - a blend of western pop and African Zulu rhyhtms."
http://www.ajn.com.au/podcast/index.html

slideshow own - photos from
http://www.undercover.com.au/Gallery.aspx?id=407

Voices: Clegg in Brisbane

Bally's Aussie Exploits: "A whole bunch of us went to see Johnny Clegg at Qpac Brisbane last night. It was a great evening, and so nice to "boogie" to home grown music we grew up with. I must admit to a bit of a lump in the throat on the odd occasion. Jan was remembering the times he lectured her at Wits and at least Ian and Emmie got to see some of the cultural heritage from South Africa. The audience was standing and dancing and singing along especially at the oldies like "Scatterlings of Africa" and "Impi". The highlight was the dancing moves he still does and his "sissie" that is is back up singer and friend of 23 years."
http://ballysdownunder.blogspot.com/2009/05/johnny-clegg-in-brisbane.html

Youtube: Jesse Clegg - Heartbreak Street

Jesse Clegg's video for 'Heartbreak Street' taken from his highly successful debut album 'When I Wake Up'.

Johnny Clegg - the downunder interview

by Paul Cashmere - May 28 2009

http://www.undercover.com.au/News-Story.aspx?id=8386

South African superstar Johnny Clegg has been touring Australia for the first time in more than 3 years but promises to tour more frequently.
At his show in Melbourne this week, Clegg announced that he would be back in 2010.
Johnny Clegg is a rare talent. He has taken the Zulu sounds of his homeland and merged the rhythms with the contemporary pop sounds of the western world.
Clegg was such an innovator of the sound that it was soon noticed by artists such as Paul Simon who likewise used his template. Simon developed the massive 'Graceland' album out of the format.
Johnny plays his final Australian show tonight (May 28) in Brisbane before heading to New Zealand this weekend.

Clegg wows Perth audiences

....

Clegg surrounds himself with top-class musicians, including back-up singer Mandisa Dlanga, who has been with his band for 22 years, and young black dancer Sabelo Qoma.

But there is no doubt Clegg is the star of the show: he plays guitar, dances zulu warrior dances and sings in a powerful voice reminiscent of Bruce Springsteen......

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=25&ContentID=143534

Playbill Merchandising for Johnny Clegg

Downunder Tour 2009

http://www.playbill.com.au/shop/productpurchase.php?product_code=2907

M E R C H A N D I S E ___

Jimmy Buffett Covered Johnny Clegg

by Paul Cashmere - May 1 2009 http://undercover.com.au/News-Story.aspx?id=8214

Jimmy Buffett covered a Johnny Clegg song back in 1988. For Johnny, it was an introduction to the man.
"It was great. I'd didn't know who he was. I didn't know how big he was," he tells Undercover News. "Someone said 'Jimmy Buffett is covering your song' and went 'okay'. Then I went over there and saw him playing to 40 or 50,000 people and thought 'my word'".
Jimmy Buffett recorded Clegg's 'Great Heart', a song that was also featured in the movies 'George of the Jungle' and 'Whispers: An Elephant's Tale".
"Do you know that in 1990 he was the biggest touring artist in America. Incredible" he says.
Buffett is huge in the USA, so big in fact that he also has two restaurant chains named after him. Check out the Margaritaville bar next time you are in Vegas.
Expect to hear the best of Johnny Clegg when he brings his show to Australia and New Zealand in May for the first time in three years.

Johnny Clegg Performs Sold-Out Show At Moroccan Festival

by Paul Cashmere - May 20 2009
http://undercover.com.au/News-Story.aspx?id=8358

The White Zulu Johnny Clegg is now on his way to Australia after performing at the Mawazine Festival in Rabat, Morocco on the weekend which drew one million music fans
Mawazine featured Clegg, Kylie Minogue and Stevie Wonder as well as the Arab world's biggest star, Warda.
While Kylie was named as "The Australian Madonna', Clegg who is a more well-known name in the region, performed to tens of thousands at the 8th Mawazine on Saturday night.
The festival took place over three days and also featured former UB40 frontman Ali Campbell.
Johnny Clegg is returning to Australia for the first time in 4 years.
The Clegg Australian tour starts in Perth this Thursday (May 21).

i am a twitter

http://twitter.com/johnnyclegg

Clegg in Israel: Johnny Clegg to appear locally

23.07.2009 - Hangar 11 Tel Aviv (Israel) http://www.caramba.fr/caramba-artiste-9-johnny-clegg.html

Johnny Clegg to appear locally
May 26, 2009 11:38 By JERUSALEM POST STAFF http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1243259520993&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
South African musician Johnny Clegg will play one show only on an upcoming visit to Israel - in Jerusalem. Aside from three decades of making music, Clegg - a "secular Jew" who grew up in the UK, Israel, Rhodesia, Zambia and South Africa - is known for his fight against apartheid and his study of anthropology. He is also a dancer, songwriter and French knight. Clegg's songs mix Zulu and English lyrics and African music with Western pop. After the break-up of Juluka, his racially mixed band (the first in South Africa) in 1986, Clegg formed Savuka, another racially mixed band that saw great success in France and was nominated for a Grammy. Clegg then embarked on a solo career. He will perform here on June 18.

REVIEW: Johnny Clegg Gets A Standing Ovation

REVIEW: Johnny Clegg Gets A Standing Ovation:
.... Here is the setlist from the Johnny Clegg show at the Palais Theatre, St Kilda for May 25, 2009:
Africa (from Universal Men, 1979), Giyani (from Third World Child, 1987), Sky Blue (from African Litany, 1981), Shadillis, December, Jongosi, Kilimanjaro (from Stand Your Ground, 1984), Maonjeni, Bullets, The Crossing (from Heat, Dust and Dreams, 1993) - Interval - I Call Out Your Name, Impi (from African Litany, 1981), Your Time Will Come, Tough Enough, Great Heart (from Third World Child, 1987), Scatterlings of Africa (from Third World Child, 1987), Cruel Crazy - Encore: Asimbonanga (from Third World Child, 1987), Danse, Dela
http://undercover.com.au/News-Story.aspx?id=8378

Heartfelt African rhythms

Mark Coughlan | May 26, 2009
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25536706-5013577,00.html

Johnny Clegg. Perth Convention Exhibition Centre, May 21. State Theatre, Sydney, tonight. QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane, May 28.
JOHNNY Clegg is a performer with a big voice and a big heart. This concert, at the start of his Australasian tour, was a high-energy event from start to finish, the infectious rhythms of the music enhanced by onstage dancing and a passionate delivery.
Clegg's musical roots are in the Zulu street music he encountered as a young child in South Africa.
............
read more

Ajn Audio Podcasts - 'The White Zulu" returns to Oz

http://www.ajn.com.au/podcast/index.html

Johnny Clegg Downunder - Support Acts, Articles

support acts:
Australia : Wouter kellerman
New Zealand: Nathan King
Read more about them here http://www.cleggdownunder.com/openers.html

White Zulu Johnny Clegg takes the sounds of South Africa to the world
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25438932-5013575,00.html
Return of the 'White Zulu'
http://www.ajn.com.au/news/news.asp?pgID=7444
SOUTH African legend Johnny Clegg is touring Down Under in May and June 2009.
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,25480814-5005364,00.html

Johnny Clegg Concert in Morocco

15.Mai 2009 8th Festival Mawazine Rythmes du Monde, Rabat (Morocco)
16.Mai 2009 Rabat, Morocco (Clegg-Website)

• FESTIVAL MAWAZINE : Rabat, capitale des musiques du monde http://www.lesoleil.sn/article.php3?id_article=46700
  La 8e édition du Festival Mawâzine Rythmes du Monde aura lieu à Rabat (Maroc) du 15 au 23 mai 2009. Cette année, les invités vedettes sont le grand chanteur Afro-américain, Stevie Wonder, et la diva de la pop, l'Australienne Kylie Minogue, qui se produiront respectivement en ouverture et en clôture. Hormis ces deux têtes d'affiche, les podiums et les salles de spectacles de Rabat vont accueillir d'autres groupes et artistes venus de tous les coins du monde. Et parmi lesquels les mythiques Neville Brothers (avec l'inimitable chanteur Aaron Neville), la sublime Alicia Keys, le roi du raï algérien, Khaled, la paire rythmique jamaïcaine Sly Dunbar (batterie) et Robbie Shakespeare (basse), le couple malien Amadou et Mariam, le zoulou blanc Johnny Clegg, le célèbre guitariste de jazz Al Di Meola, l'original chanteur sénégalais Nourou Kane et son groupe Baye Fall Gnawa, etc. Il y a aura également des groupes et interprètes du Maghreb : Warda Al Jazayria (Algérie), Samira Said, Mahmoud Bassou, Style Souss, Tigresse Flow, Taghrast (Maroc), sans oublier des artistes du Liban, de la Palestine, de la Serbie, de Cuba, de la Somalie, de Côte d'ivoire, d'Espagne, de la France, d'Irak, de la Belgique, du Brésil, de Cuba, etc. « Diversité des sons et des rythmes est le maître-mot de cette édition », expliquent les organisateurs. Le Festival sera marqué par d'autres manifestations : prestations dans les rues, fanfares, spectacles pour enfants, créations musicales, expositions, concours pour jeunes talents... Du 15 au 23 mai 2009, Rabat sera une véritable capitale des musiques du monde. Modou M. FAYE

17.05.2009 Festival Mawazine Rythmes du Monde, Rabat (Morocco) http://www.caramba.fr/caramba-artiste-9-johnny-clegg.html

http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2009/02/25/feature-02
.........This year's edition will take place May 15th through the 23rd in Rabat under the theme "Rhythms of the World".
Although Mawazine is already one of Morocco's most important festivals, the goal this year is to make it even bigger, both nationally and internationally.
"Mawazine's artistic and cultural diversity is this event's prime calling, namely opening up to the music and cultures of countries all over the world," Aziz Seghrouchni, the festival's deputy chairman, said in a news conference last Wednesday in Rabat. "It is a source of cultural riches and it is able to break away from the idea of a single or dominant cultural model."
Australian Kylie Minogue will get the party started.
Also on the performers list are white Zulu Johnny Clegg, Italian Ennio Morricone, American Alicia Keys, the group Ska Cubano and guitarist Eliades Ochoa – both from Cuba – Brazilian Sergio Mendes, and Americans Solomon Burke and The Neville Brothers.
Other performers include Algeria's legendary singer, Warda Al Jazairia, Iraq's Kazem Al Saher, UAE's Hussein El Jasmi, Lebanon's Najwa Karam, Algerian Rai singer Cheb Khaled, and Tunisia's Lotfi Bouchnak.
Morocco alone is participating through a numbers of artists, including Samira Said, Fethellah Lamghari, Aziza Malak, Stati, Fez City Clan, Big, Casa Crew, and many others. ............

Jesse Clegg First Concerts

12.-14.05.2009 Jesse Clegg: When I Wake Up - Jesse Clegg comes of age 12.05.2009

The talented son of a talented father, Jesse Clegg will be at the Nelson Mandela Theatre for three nights only, from 12 to 14 May.
Jesse Clegg performs for three nights at the Joburg Theatre Complex this week
Expect songs from Jesse's hit album, When I Wake Up, as well as some new material from his CD released in October 2008.
Clegg's first single, Today, was welcomed well by the public. Within a week of its release it topped the Highveld Homebrew charts. It also got loads of airplay on other radio stations across the country.
No stranger to the stage, Jesse has performed alongside his father, Johnny Clegg, at a number of festivals in France.
Tickets are R130 and R161, excluding the Computicket booking fee. Discounted tickets for groups of 10 or more are available at VIP Ticketing on 011 877 6853.
Performances are at 8pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. http://www.joburg.org.za/content/view/3810/266/

White Zulu Johnny Clegg takes the sounds of South Africa to the world

Ian Cuthbertson | May 07, 2009 http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25438932-5013575,00.html

SOUTH African crossover musician Johnny Clegg, known for the colourful Zulu dance aspect of his music as much as his songwriting, has sold more than five million albums over three decades.

His unique blend of Western pop, Celtic spirit and Zulu rhythms has proved infectious globally, especially in France, where he is known affectionately as Le Zoulou Blanc: the White Zulu. The world music pioneer, set to tour Australia later this month, is also an anthropologist, with published academic papers to his credit, and an activist.

Growing up with musical and academic interests in a racially divided country made it more or less impossible not to become an anti-apartheid campaigner. No surprise, then, that his hero is Nelson Mandela, whose harsh treatment at the hands of the apartheid regime haunted and inspired Clegg.

Speaking from South Africa, Clegg tells how Mandela's surprise appearance on stage during a performance of Asimbonanga, perhaps his most identifiable song, was the pinnacle of his life. The title means "we have not seen him" and it is, of course, about Mandela. "In 1999 I was the entertainment for an international (non-governmental organisation) conference on Africa in Germany, and Mandela was the guest speaker," he says.

"He had spoken the day before, and we were wrapping up the event. I had no idea that he would walk onstage, singing the song with us, and it totally blew me away."

It had a similar effect on the audience. The moment, captured on video, is widely available on YouTube.

"I wrote that song in the state of emergency in 1986," Clegg says. "The army was in the street, terrible things were happening in the country. At that time we had no idea Mandela would be released four years later."

Born in England in 1953, Clegg lived in Zimbabwe until he was seven. At that time his mother, a cabaret and jazz singer, married a South African crime reporter, and the new family moved to Zambia for two years before returning to South Africa. With life in three countries under his belt before he was 12, Clegg was perhaps better prepared than most to see through the racial smokescreen of apartheid in the South Africa of the late 1960s and early '70s.

At 13 he took to the guitar like a waterbird to the wetlands. It was also at this time that he saw traditional Zulu Inhlangwini dancers for the first time. Fascinated, and in the company of a new guitar-playing mate, a Zulu house cleaner who played street music near Clegg's home, the young musician began illegally hanging out, playing and learning in the black migrant labour haunts around Johannesburg.

Though he was arrested several times for contravening the Group Areas Act, an apartheid law forcing different races to keep to their own residential and recreational areas, Clegg nevertheless developed a reputation as a competent Zulu guitarist in the Masikande tradition. ("The thumb plays every beat in the song on the lower three strings and the other four fingers pick against it. And then you sing a different melody over the top.")

"The street musicians I admired all played a hardy, cello-shaped steel string guitar called a Bellini," Clegg says.

"They were tinny little things, manufactured cheaply in Pinetown, south of Durban. But they sounded great and were perfect for the unique finger-picking style the Zulus had developed. So you had a Western instrument that had been completely Africanised: restrung, retuned and reconceptualised."

A bit like Clegg himself. Though fascinated by the African musicians and dancers around him, Clegg still listened to a lot of Celtic folk music. "I was listening to Scottish, Irish and English folk music at a very early age", he says. "And there were certain echoes of it that I heard in Zulu street guitar music."

Clegg also remembers being strongly influenced by Jethro Tull, learning from the band's singer, Ian Anderson, that you could cross over styles - such as jazz, folk and rock - in the same piece.

The Zulu street dancing Clegg fell in love with as a teenager remains an important part of his live shows. "In any case I come from an African entertainment aesthetic," he says. "In Africa, people don't come to listen to your music, they come to see your music."

These live shows began in earnest when migrant Zulu worker Sipho Mchunu, who considered himself a Zulu guitar whiz, not to mention a sensational dancer, heard about this white kid who played guitar and danced like a native. The two met, hit it off and in the mid-'70s formed the influential early world music band Juluka, in contravention of the cultural segregation laws of the time.

"We were never played on the radio. So we had to develop a really killer show. That was the way we built up a fan base," Clegg says.

Somehow, Clegg found the time to finish a degree in social anthropology. He pursued an academic career for four years, publishing papers in journals and lecturing at universities in Johannesburg and Durban. "Obviously, having a multi-racial band in South Africa during apartheid wasn't really going to pay the rent," he says.

But it was through his academic engagements that Clegg met South African producer and label owner Hilton Rosenthal, who fell in love with Clegg's concept of blending English lyrics and Western melodies with Zulu musical structures. Rosenthal signed Juluka at a time a time when mixed-race bands were unprofitable because of radio and performance bans.

His faith paid off. By the '80s, Savuka, the successor band to Juluka, was the leading world music group touring Francophone countries. By the end of 1989, Savuka had sold more than one million copies of its debut album, Third World Child, and 700,000 of its second, Shadow Man, and the stage was set for an enduring global musical career.

Johnny Clegg's Australian tour begins in Perth on May 21.

David Webster Park is opened

Written by Lucille Davie - Monday, 04 May 2009 http://www.joburg.org.za/content/view/3791/266/

Under wet, grey skies a park in Troyeville was renamed in honour of the late academic and anti-apartheid activist who lived and was murdered in the suburb.

DAVID WEBSTER'S memory will live on in his home suburb, Troyeville - Bloemenhof Park is now David Webster Park.

....

Webster, in the prime of his life at 44, was shot dead outside his home in the suburb 20 years ago, on Workers' Day, 1 May 1989. A mosaic plaque, reading "David Webster 1945-1989 Assassinated in Troyeville for his fight against apartheid - lived for justice, peace and friendship", was unveiled at the renaming.

Tribute
Eddie Webster, professor of sociology at Wits, paid tribute to David Webster at his funeral in 1989.
"From time to time in the history of opposition to apartheid in our open universities, there has arisen from within our ranks men and women who have had the courage to transcend the narrow confines of the established role of university teacher," he said.
"By their combination of theory and practice they have been able to go beyond the 'ivory tower' and engage directly with the struggle of the majority for democracy. By challenging racist practices they threatened the apartheid system. David Webster was such a man."

Under grey skies and spitting rain – considered a blessing in Africa – a distinguished crowd of about 100 people gathered in memory of the University of the Witwatersrand academic and anti-apartheid activist, in a ceremony organised by Johannesburg City Parks.

Executive Mayor Amos Masondo; Minister of Health Barbara Hogan; Robben Island inmate and great friend of Nelson Mandela, Ahmed Kathrada; the provincial MEC for safety and security, Firoz Cachalia; and City councillors of transport and the environment, Rehana Moosajee and Prema Naidoo, all took their seats under large canvas umbrellas.

Students and colleagues

Two former students of Webster, singer Johnny Clegg and runner Bruce Fordyce, and his partner, Maggie Friedman, were there too. Members of the Detainees' Parents Support Committee (DPSC) and the United Democratic Front also attended the function. Webster was a member of both organisations.

.....

Webster used to pour tea at the monthly DPSC gatherings. He monitored patterns of repression through the committee, and gave advice and comfort to parents of detainees. He also worked to ease the discomfort of detainees by sending them educational material and track suits.

He worked, too, on the Free the Children campaign, calling on the apartheid government to stop detaining children. He also initiated a "running shoes campaign" in which well-known figures like Fordyce and Clegg would sign their running shoes and donate them to political detainees.

"He worked relentlessly against human rights abuses. He lived his respect for human dignity," wrote Terry Sacco of the DPSC in the programme brochure. "He had a depth of understanding and a nobility of mind. He had wisdom and integrity, an infectious sense of fun and humour and loved peace."

Moving tribute

Clegg took the podium and gave a moving tribute. First a student of Webster's, he became a colleague, eventually teaching alongside Webster at Wits for three years. Clegg spoke of Webster's "strong sense of conviction" and "his persuasive powers" – he would corner you and gently but firmly tell you he would see you at a book launch.

"He loved all forms of culture – a play at the Market Theatre, an exhibition. And he would make sure all the key people would be there."
A dancer as well as a singer, Clegg said he took Webster to the Jeppe Hostel and introduced him to the dance culture among migrant workers. "In two to three months he started telling me things about them."
Webster was a multi-layered person and a gentle soul. "He was on a lone path to facilitate and bring people together. He was an incredibly generous person."

.....

The sun had broken through the clouds and the cluster of jacarandas under which the ceremony had taken place offered shade. The mood was restful - the formalities were over, but people lingered, reluctant to leave a place that had taken on special significance, a place of commemoration of Webster.

Related stories:

• David Webster to be honoured
• The man who laid his life down for his friends

Le Zoulou blanc dans la savane saint-cyrienne

MUSIQUE. Johnny Clegg se produira à Saint-Ciers-sur-Gironde au mois d'octobre http://www.sudouest.com/gironde/actualite/blayais/article/578774/mil/4483646.html?type=98 SUD OUEST | Lundi 04 Mai 2009

Perth, Melbourne et Sydney (Australie) en mai, Auckland (Nouvelle-Zélande), Bâle (Suisse) en juin, Tel-Aviv (Israël) en juillet... L'agenda déjà copieusement chargé de Johnny Clegg, parfois surnommé le « Zoulou blanc », vient de s'enrichir d'une nouvelle date : Saint-Ciers-sur-Gironde ! L'association La 5e Saison vient en effet de trouver un accord avec le chanteur, et c'est le 30 octobre que Johnny Clegg se produira au gymnase de la commune, rebaptisé pour l'occasion Espace de la 5e Saison.Chantre de l'abolition de l'Apartheid (1), du temps où Nelson Mandela croupissait en prison, Johnny Clegg s'est fait connaître du grand public avec « Asimbonanga », morceau dédié à celui qui deviendra plus tard le président du pays.

À noter qu'un nouvel album sortira juste avant la venue du chanteur. Les Saint-Cyriens seront donc parmi les premiers à pouvoir découvrir les morceaux sur scène.

Conjugaison de forces

Une venue de prestige que l'on doit à la toute nouvelle association La 5e Saison, présidée par Laurent Chopy, qui avait déjà organisé la venue l'an passé de Louis Bertignac, l'ex « guitar-hero » de Téléphone. C'est d'ailleurs à ce moment-là, et devant le succès de l'événement, qu'est née l'idée de l'association. « Avec Christophe Jeanneau, l'adjoint à la culture de la commune, on s'est dit que ça marchait et qu'il fallait donc continuer », résume Laurent Chopy. Sitôt dit, sitôt fait, le comité des fêtes et l'Office de la culture ont été dissous et leurs bénévoles réunis au sein de la même association. « Ça donne plus de forces, plus de bénévoles, et donc plus de compétences dans tous les domaines. » La 5e Saison était née, avec, dans sa besace, plein de projets : « En gros, l'idée est de proposer quelque chose une fois par mois environ ».

Christophe Jeanneau rappelle que la fusion de l'office de la culture et du comité des fêtes avait été évoquée durant la campagne électorale, « histoire de varier l'offre culturelle ». Et puis, le maire de Saint-Ciers, Anne-Marie Plisson, souhaitait que les propositions restent financièrement accessibles au plus grand nombre.

D'autres ambitions

Côté stratégie, l'association mise sur des têtes d'affiche pour faire connaître Saint-Ciers, sans négliger des actions en direction des écoles et des enfants.

« On veut utiliser tous les atouts culturels de la commune (cinéma, école de musique, médiathèque) et, comme on est chef-lieu de canton, essayer de monter des spectacles avec la Communauté de commune de l'estuaire ou les autres communes, comme le cirque Oups ou la venue de l'ensemble vocal Saggi- tarius », poursuit Christophe Jeanneau.

Et la 5e Saison ne compte pas s'arrêter-là. D'autres artistes sont pressentis, dont un très connu, qui se produirait l'an prochain. Mais, par contrat, l'association n'a pas encore le droit de communiquer à son sujet. On devra donc patienter encore un peu pour que son nom ne soit officiellement divulgué.

(1) Bien que né en Angleterre, Johnny Clegg a passé toute son enfance en Afrique du Sud.

Auteur : Étienne Béguin