Search - Johnny Clegg :: Anthology

A great sampler of one of music's great innovators

V. Harder | Sleepy Hollow, Illinois United States | 05/07/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

An Amazing Message

Dr. B. Gubar | Down the Shore | 03/19/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Fabulous!

Sarah McIntyre | London, UK | 03/13/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."