Johnny Clegg Research Paper

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Johnny Clegg, a white South African musician, earned the title Le Zoulou Blanc, the White Zulu, because of his integration of zulu and white culture in his music. He was a musician and anti-apartheid activist - although he often said that he was a musician first and that activism found him. This was probably because as a white South African he was drawn to playing with black musicians and mixing African rhythm into his music. Upbringing: Johnny Clegg was born in England to an English father and Zimbabwean mother. After his parents split, he moved with his mother and new stepfather to South Africa. This was a fateful move. In fact later in his life when he reunited with his father, his father said that if Johnny had stayed in England…show more content…
In an interview with Green Global Travel, Clegg articulates his struggles against the apartheid during his adolescence , “I was arrested for the first time when I was 15, and then arrested multiple times for trespassing on municipal property. All these minor infractions started to build up resentment in me. Apartheid was like seeing a fence arbitrarily put across the road. I just had to find my way around it.” (Brett and Mary, 2014). Obviously Clegg was extremely anti-Apartheid. Clegg thought that being arrested was a worthy trade off in order to be apart of the Zulu community. Clegg also says that he only got politically active later in his life, when he was an adolescent he didn’t realize the political repercussions. Johnny Clegg was a groundbreaking artist in south africa because of who he formed his bands with. Juluka: Julaka, his first band, was the first multi-racial musical group in South Africa, it was in direct defiance of the apartheid rules. Therefore they were greatly censored, unable to perform in public or have their music played on the radio. Yet, through the censorship Juluka still rose to fame. for them, instead of people hearing about them on TV, they gained new fans from the word of mouth. They were only allowed to perform on the street and in non professional

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