WOMAD

Johnny Clegg & Juluka

From South Africa

It’s 30 years since a 17-year-old middle-class white kid from Jo’burg began to make music with a Zulu migrant worker. Johnny Clegg and Sipho Mchunu’s partnership became a thorn in the side of the apartheid regime, embarrassed by a multicultural band that racked up seven gold albums in as many years. Juluka disbanded in 1986, with Sipho ploughing money into his local community, and Johnny founding Savuka, whose songs, such as ‘One Human One Vote’ were even more outspoken.With the end of apartheid, Clegg believed Savuka’s work was done, and two years ago he and Sipho reunited in a new version of Juluka. While they still play older material, this band is forward-looking, incorporating modern dance beats. The old Juluka was an affirmation of what South Africa could become. The new one shows that the exchange of cultures and ideas is still vital to the future of the new society.