Be honest, you’ve had a good shuffle on the dance floor to a Johnny Clegg classic.

At least once.

The 63-year-old South African icon is now hanging up his well worn gumboots, embarking on a final farewell world tour before bidding public life goodbye.

The Daily Maverick have a pretty touching farewell titled “End of an era: Johnny Clegg, pioneer and national treasure, bids farewell to fans“, so let’s read some of those kind words:

It was his status as an outsider – Clegg was born in Lancashire in the UK and moved with his mother to what was then known as Rhodesia and Zambia before settling in South Africa – that enabled him to transcend the racial and class politics of his new homeland.

In 1990 Clegg told the New York Times, “I felt like an immigrant. The only time I really felt at home was when I got involved in African music… The migrant workers were themselves immigrants, so we had a similar feeling of marginality in the city… That was emotionally something I could relate to.”

Clegg studied anthropology with Wits anti-apartheid activist, Dr David Webster, who was assassinated in 1989, which influenced the concept of blending or crossing over musical styles. When [musical partner Sipho] Mchunu retired in 1985, Clegg formed Savuka, which took the music up a notch into the realm of international stadium-style rock with Afro pop and traditional sound.

We take a quick break to enjoy ‘Scatterlings of Africa’ – I expect foot stomping under the desk as a bare minimum:

Come on, you know you enjoyed that.

More on how he came to embrace “Zulu music”:

Clegg had first heard “Zulu” music at the age of 14 when he was sent out by his mother to the shop and came across Charlie Mzila who played traditional guitar outside a corner cafe in Yeoville. It was Mzila who taught Clegg to play the instrument Zulu style. The young guitarist, who ended up speaking fluent Zulu, first played in shebeens. Neither Mchunu nor Clegg had any formal musical training when they met and neither could read music…

In the six years that Juluka performed together the bank recorded two platinum and five gold albums. It was producer Hilton Rosenthal who helped catapult the band onto world stages where they came to represent the irrepressible spirit of South Africa…

Clegg’s catalogue with Juluka and Savuka is vast. There was a time when he was the biggest selling artist – selling around 5-million copies – in South Africa, filling stadiums and theatres across the country.

Clegg was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer back in 2015, and although he received treatment the cancer returned last year:

It was then that he decided to embark on the farewell tour before the illness saps him of his legendary energy.

Legendary indeed.

His farewell tour has been dubbed ‘The Final Journey’, and starts in Cape Town at Grand West on July 1.

Thanks for the memories, Johnny, we salute you.

We’ll leave with ‘Africa’, which I’m guessing was for many white folks the first time they were forced to try master the tongue click:

Fine, one more and then we’re really done:

Happy Tuesday.

[source:dailymaverick]