Customer Reviews

Anthology

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There can be few artists who have produced as many good albums throughout the late 70's, 80's and 90's as Johnny Clegg, whether as Juluka or in his later incarnation as Savauka. This anthology includes some of the best from both bands. Great tracks like Impi which combine a wonderful chorus with gripping factual story line about the defeat of a British Regiment by the Zulu army in 1881. It also has one of the truly great tracks of all time "Scatterlings of Africa". Remember that this song about the common origins of man was written and performed by a multiracial band which defied all the rules of Apartheid to produce music like this.

More erecnt highlights include "The Crossing" a lament about a dead Zulu friend's crossing to the next world which contains a truly hauntingly beautiful chorus.

Paul Simon brought the music of South Africa to the world's attention with Graceland but Clegg was there long before Simon. While Simon's clever New Yorker lyrics sit slightly awarkwardly on top of the rhthymns of South Africa Cleggs is a true fusion of African and Western musical traditions. He deserves to be better known and his music deserves more airtime. he is one of the best writers and performers of the last 20 years in any popular music form.

There is no such thing as a bad Johnny Clegg album and this is one of the best. Buy it and try it. You won't be disappointed.

Before Paul Simon amazed the world with Graceland, Johnny Clegg and Juluka were breaking the law in South Africa simply by playing together. While the world lay in shock when Nelson Mandela was imprisioned, Johnny Clegg's politically active lyrics questioned all authority in South Africa.

This album takes the lyrical political astuteness of Rage Against the Machine, the beats of Afro Celt Soundsystem, and the lush melodies and harmonies of R.E.M. and creates something wonderful. Early Juluka classics like Universal Men, High Country, Woza Friday, Scatterlings of Africa and Kilimanjaro are deeply moving, and Savuka hits like Great Heart (later covered by Jimmy Buffet), Take My Heart Away, and an astounding live version of Asimbonanga, Clegg's tribute to Mandela, this album will touch anyone with a heart, move anyone with a soul, and inspire anyone with feet to dance with.

Clegg's voice, either speaking rhythmic English or more rhythmic Zulu, is beautiful, and his word moreso. Perhaps the only songs missing from here are Too Early For The Sky, Human Rainbow and African Shadow Man, all off his Shadow Man album, which is sorely absent on this collection. But Clegg is an amazing musician and songwriter, and if you do not know him yet, I urge you to seek him out.

Great album!! Go for it!! This is everything the Putumayo selection was not - including outstanding pieces like the trademark 'Scatterlings', the rousing 'Bullets for Bafazane', 'Woza Friday' and of course 'Dela' which was used in the George of the Jungle film. It also has 'Nan's Impi' from the hard-to-get album Musa Ukungilandela; and great live recordings of Asimbonanga and Hambile. Good stuff!!

My introduction to Johnny Clegg was a cover of the song "Great Heart" played by Jimmy Buffett at a concert in 1987. He told the audience that songs like this reminded him of his own early work. That put the hook into me. I tried to find all of the Johnny Clegg music I could. On the way, I found out that Clegg had been arrested in South Africa for playing on the same stage as Black South Africans, and that disguises were used to fool the authorities. He had also been a professor of anthropology in South Africa, as I was lucky enough to learn from one of his students. Also, for those who would like more of a feeling for the man and his music, I suggest hunting down a copy of "VH1's One 2 One" regarding Clegg.

Although apartheid is dead in South Africa, the message of Clegg's music is still quite valid. The history of a proud people and their struggle to be accepted by a world that draws racial lines. Songs like "Scatterlings of Africa" (heard both on Saturday Night Live and in the movie "Rain Man"), "Asimbonanga" and "Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World" (a song written after the birth of Clegg's son) reflect the yearning for a better life. Clegg's music seems to me to be a reflection of Bob Dylan's music from the early 1960's. In a time when South Africans could not say what was on their minds, Johnny Clegg and Sipho brought the struggle to the young, to those with a conscience and did it with both love and grace.

Usually, I stay away from "collection" or "best of" albums, but this is truly an amazing album. One which every collector of "World Beat" should own.

This album, collection of Zulu and English songs by British born, South African adopted, music legend Johnny Clegg captivates many of his great music over the last 25 years.

Clegg's highly contraversial partnership with Sipho Mchunu was unsuprisingly often politically charged but always faithful and appreciated. Such tracks that illustrate this and often bring tears to the eyes of South-Africans the world over are Asimbonanga, Great Heart and Africa.

However I do not believe this is his best compilation album. If you would prefer to find a better Johnny Clegg collection, then you may wish to give "In My African Dream" or "Premium Gold Collection" a listen. They include songs such as Ibhola Lethu, Siyayilanda and Third World Child - that were unfortunately ommited from this album.

If you don't know Johnny Clegg - then you are missing a lot. Give him a try: this album is a good introduction.

I heard about Johnny Clegg for the first time on a BBC Radio 4 documentary, then found this CD a week later at a stall at Brixton market in London. I didn't know what to expect, but it quickly became my favourite, and I'm sure the neighbours downstairs can hear when "Impi" booms through the floorboards! I love the energy of "Kilimanjaro", "Woza Friday" and "Bullets", and the interesting mixes of Zulu and Western styles in some of the others. I've been to two of his concerts and he gives a good show.

Johnny Clegg and his band put together many stunning performances on this album. Known in South Africa as The White Zulu, Clegg, his band and their music have done so much to unite the once shattered South Africa. "Scatterlings of Africa", "Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World", "Impi" and especially "The Crossing" bear witness to this. The music is very accessible and will make a valuable part of any music collection.

Enjoy!

-recently went to Nelson Mandela Theater in Joburg SA to see JC live , fantastic! Albums don't do his music and performance justice. Was "shaking the Tree"long before P. Gabriel!!--ozpal