Johnny Clegg on Juluka
Commentary on "Putumayo Presents:
a Johnny Clegg and Juluka Collection", 1996
Juluka's songwriting experimented with many diferent formats. This collection represents a format in which Western based rhythm structures and melodies were mixed with Zulu lyrics and social commentary. The Zulu language does not permit two vowels to stand together; it constantly requires vowels to be separated by consonants. This creates an extremely rhythmic language structure. In many of the songs on this album, the power of the language is demonstrated to full effect.
Juluka was never a political protest band, althought political themes form a considerable part of the repertoire. Juluka was more a band seeking to find meeting points between modern and traditional society, rural and urban experiences, exploring as many facets of the cultural reality of South Africa, trying to find commonalities and unversal themes. Only a small section of Juluka's repertoire was issue-based. "Work for All" dealt with the 1984 unemployment crisis. "Mdantsane" protrayed the Mdantsane bus boycott massacre and "Siyayilanda" told of death in detention of the Trade Unionist leader Dr. Niel Agett in 1982. Juluka's projectory was more trying to stand for something than protesting against a specific issue. It is for this reason that much of the band's work has outlived the specific historical period of political struggle in which it was born.
1. Kwela Man
In the '50's a street music called Kwela developed. It usually
consisted of a steel-stringed guitar, a simple string box bass
and two or three penny whistles. Groups of ragamuffin Kwela musicians
would travel from the townships to the city centers and play
on the street corners. Most of these musicians were young teenagers
and even some in their pre-teens. Kwela music soon became a national
South African genre and the music industry quickly cashed in
on the Kwela revolution. The music died out in the late '60's
as a new form of amplified township music called Mbaqanga took
over.
2. Africa
In Africa only the innocent are weeping.
3. Akanaki Nokunaka
One of the pillars of Apartheid was the Group Areas Act which
forbade races of different racial classifications from living
together. Billions were spent forcibly relocating rural and urban
communities in order to satisfy the ideological requirements
of the Apartheid vision. This song describes the removal and
destruction of a traditional rural community by the Government
known in the vernacular as the GG (i.e., the G Man). GG was the
license plate number of all Government vehicles.
4. Deliwe
A love song persuading somebody to stay and make a commitment
to Africa
the remainder can be found on the CD.
talkingleaves
MMVI