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Johhny Clegg & Savuka: Im my African Dream: - The Best of Johhny Clegg & Savuka

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s

Artist: Johhny Clegg & Savuka
Title: Im my African Dream:
The Best of Johhny Clegg & Savuka
Released: 1994
Label: EMI Records
Time: 69:26
Producer(s): See Artists ...
Appears with:
Category: World Music
Rating: ********.. (8/10)
Media type: CD
Purchase date:  2000.12.07
Price in €: 6,99
Web address: www.johnnyclegg.com

 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Orphans of the Empire (Clegg) - 3:49
[2] Scatterlings of Africa (Clegg) - 4:21
[3] Great Heart (Clegg) - 4:35
[4] Asimbonanga (Clegg) - 4:14
[5] Ibhola Lethu (Clegg) - 4:15 *
[6] Dela (Clegg) - 4:11
[7] Siyayilanda (Clegg) - 4:26
[8] One (Hu) 'Man One Vote (Clegg/Summerfield) - 4:47
[9] Crossing (Clegg) - 4:13
[10] Take My Heart Away (Clegg) - 4:25
[11] Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World (Clegg) - 3:59
[12] I Call Your Name (Clegg) - 4:13
[13] In My African Dream (Clegg) - 4:59
[14] These Days (Clegg) - 4:54
[15] Touch Enough (Clegg) - 4:32
[16] Africa (What Made You So Strong) (Clegg) - 3:33 *

* - Previously unreleased

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Johnny Clegg - Concertina, Vocals, Multi Instruments, Producer

Kenny Aronoff - Drums
Eric Bazilian - Mandolin
Mark Goldenberg - Guitar
Keith Hutchinson - Flute, Keyboards, Saxophone, Background Vocals
Andrew Innes - Guitar, Mandolin, Background Vocals
Victor Masondo - Bass Guitar
John Pierce - Bass
Hilton Rosenthal - Keyboards, Background Vocals, Producer, Sequencing
Bobby Summerfield - Percussion, Keyboards, Tambourine, Producer, Engineer, Drum Programming
Eric Rigler - Bagpipes
Derek De Beer - Percussion, Drums, Background Vocals
Solly Letwaba - Background Vocals
Steve Mavuso - Keyboards, Background Vocals
Cedric Samson - Drums, Background Vocals, Producer
Fernando Perdigao - Engineer
Mandise Dlanga - Background Vocals
Jabu Mavuso - Bass Guitar

Hilton Rosenthal - Producer
Don Was - Producer
Bobby Sommerfeld - Producer
Peter Thwaites - Engineer
Phil Delire - Engineer
Claude Gassian - Photography

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s

© 1988 EMI Records Ltd.
© H.R. Music - BMI 1986 and 1986
© 1991 by HRBV Music (ASCAP) 
All titles published by Sweet 'n Sour Songs Ltd

1994 Release Originally on the Rhythm Safari Label and Later on Priority. 16 Track Collection from the Acclaimed South African Artist Now Out of Print in the USA.



One of the most politically charged "world music" artists to emerge from Africa in the Eighties, Johnny Clegg fell so deeply in love with Zulu tribal culture that he not only fused it with Western-based music, he actually became an honorary Zulu tribesman. He was arrested and otherwise harassed for flouting South Africa’s apartheid system to play with blacks, yet managed to garner international acclaim.

Clegg took after both of his parents: His mother was a cabaret singer, and his father, a journalist who admired black culture and abhorred apartheid. Born in England, he moved with his family to South Africa at the age of six. As a teenager, Clegg was arrested frequently for hanging out in Zulu bars, listening to the music he preferred. He later lectured on Zulu anthropology at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

He left academic life in the mid-Seventies to pursue a career in music. In Johannesburg he befriended migrant gardener/street musician Sipha Mchunu, who taught him traditional Zulu music. The two formed a duo, Johnny and Sipha, which was renamed Juluka (Zulu for "sweat") and played mbaqanga music with political lyrics, gradually integrating Western funk, soul, and reggae elements. Juluka gained a large, interracial South African audience, and found some success internationally, especially with 1983’s Scatterlings. After Mchunu returned to his family’s farm in Zululand in 1985, Clegg formed a fully electric, more rock-oriented update of Juluka, called Savuka (Zulu far "we have arisen"), which included Juluka drummer Derek De Beer. Ironically, Clegg was expelled from the Musicians Union in his native Britain, for performing in South Africa. Despite its never having had a U.S. hit single, Savuka enjoyed a high enough international profile to be invited on the 1988 Amnesty International Conspiracy of Hope Tour, with Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Peter Gabriel, and others. Cruel Crazy Beautiful World (1990) included songs inspired by the assassination of Clegg’s friend, antiapartheid activist David Webster. In 1992 Savuka percussionist Dudu Zulu -- with whom Clegg performed the acrobatic, crowd-pleasing Zulu dances known as Indlamu -- was murdered during factional warfare between different Zulu tribes. Clegg’s next album, Heat, Dust & Dreams, featuring many non-South African guest musicians, included "The Crossing," a tribute to Dudu Zulu.

Born October 31, 1953, Rochdale, England

With Juluka, formed 1976, Johannesburg, South Africa (Clegg, gtr., voc.; Sipho Mchunu [b. 1951, Kuanskop, South Africa], voc., gtr., perc.):
1979 -- Universal Men (Priority)
1981 -- African Litany (+ Gary Van Zyl [b. Riversdale, South Africa], bass; + Scorpion Madondo [b. South Africa], sax., flute)
1982 -- Ubhule Bemvelo
1983 -- Scatterlings (Warner Bros.) ( + Derek De Beer [b. South Africa], drums; + Cyril Mnculwane [b. South Africa], kybds.; + Glenda Millar, kybds.); Work for All
1984 -- Musa Ukungilandela; The International Tracks; Stand Your Ground
1986 -- The Good Hope Concerts
1991 -- The Best of Juluka (Rhythm Safari)

With Savuka, formed 1986, Johannesburg, South Africa (Clegg, gtr., voc.; Dudu Zulu [b. Mntowaziwayo Ndlovu, Dec. 25, 1957, South Africa; d. May 4, 1992, South Africa], voc., perc.; + De Beer, drums; Keith Hutchinson [b. South Africa], kybds., sax, voc.; Solly Letwaba [b. South Africa], bass; Steve Mavuso [b. South Africa], kybds., voc.; Mandisa Dlanga [b. South Africa], voc.):
1987 -- Third World Child (Capitol)
1988 -- Shadow Man
1990 -- Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World ( -- Zulu; -- Dlanga)
1993 -- Heat, Dust & Dreams
1994 -- In My African Dream (Rhythm Safari)

Copyright © 1983, 1995 by Rolling Stone Press



The white, English-speaking, society and Black, African, culture of South Africa was brought together by Johnny Clegg. Together with Sipho Mchunu, a Zulu musician who came to Johannesburg in search of work, Clegg formed South Africa's first multi-racial band, Jujuka. In the seven years that they were initally together, the band recorded two platinum and five gold albums and became an international success. Following the group's disbanding in 1986, Clegg continued to blend African music with European pop influences with the band, Savuka. Reunited with Mchunu in the mid-1990s, Clegg reformed Jujuka and toured throughout the world as opening act for King Sunny Ade. A native of Lancashire, England, Clegg moved to Africa as a youngster. Although he temporarily lived in Zimbabwe and Zambia, he eventually settled, with his family, in South Africa. Starting guitar at the age of fourteen, Clegg was introduced to South African music when he heard a street musician, Mntonganazo Mzila. Enchanted by what he heard, Clegg apprenticed himself to Mzila for two years, learning the basics of Zulu music and Inhlangwini dancing. Soon after meeting Sipho Mchunu and forming Jujuka, Clegg recorded his debut single, "Waza Friday". Although racial prejudice in South Africa prevented their first album, Universal Man, from attaining radio airplay, the album became a word of mouth hit. Their second album, African Litany, released in 1981, included the South African hit, "Impi". Two years later, Jujuka attracted international acclaim for their album, Scatterling. The political climate of South Africa began to take its tollon the group in the mid-1980s. By 1985, Clegg and Mchunu seperated with Mchunu returning to his homeland to work on his farm. Clegg's second band, Savuka, which took its name from the Zulu word meaning "we have risen" or "we have awakened", took a more pop-minded approach to African music. The group's debut album, Third World Child, sold more than two million copies. Following their second album, Shadow Man, the band embarked on a world tour, opening shows for Steve Winwood in the United States and George Michael in Canada. Savuka reached its peak with its fourth album, Heat, Dust And Dreams, which was nominated for a Grammy in the "best world music" category and received a Billboard music award as "Best World Music Album".

Craig Harris, All-Music Guide
 

 L y r i c s


Orphans of the empire

In ships they came from Europe, across the salt sea
Come for the build and raise a colony
And in the jungle green their citadels did gleam
In tribute and homage to the old country
And soon their children grew and promised to be true
Orphans of an Empire their destiny

Chorus:
Hold me close Africa
Fill my soul Africa
Let me grow old, Africa
Let me in
Fill my soul Africa
Don’t let me go, Africa
Let me grow old, Africa
And remember me

Imperial gentleman, he built mighty walls
And in the jungle atternoon he plays polo when he’s bored
He sips a gin and tonic and tells you confidentially
He wishes he understood the indiginies
But the shadows they are lengthening and the sun it must set
Bewildered and confused he scurries home to his bed

Chorus

He cannot understand the soldiers all at hand
For with guns you cannot fight a foe that dwells within
But the batlle had begun and a soldier he’s become
Who can sing his litany?
It's a beggarman’s prayer or a string on the wind
Will that be all that lingers on the memory?

And who will remember that African December?
When he knelt before the colors and swore to do or die?
And he kissed his frightened lover, beneath the glowing embers
Of that dark, strange heaven, that ancient sky
Now he's gone to dust, just like all good soldiers must
But the mournful mutter of the battlefield still lingers in the air

So it's farewell sweet Caroline, farewell Elizabeth
Goodbye gentle ladies of the old order
And farewell to your islands carved upon this continent
Some England, some France and some Germany
Soon you will return to that dream across the sea
Cause here is no more honey left for tea

Chorus


Scatterlings of Africa

Copper sun sinking low
Scatterlings and fugitives
Hooded eyes and weary brows
Seek refuge in the night

Chorus
They are the scatterlings of Africa
Each uprooted one
On the road to Phelamanga
Where the world began
I love the scatterlings of Africa
Each and every one
In their hearts a burning hunger
Beneath the copper sun

Ancient bones from Olduvai
Echoes of the very first cry
"Who made me here and why
Beneath the copper sun?"
African idea
African idea
Make the future clear
Make the future clear

Chorus.....

And we are the scatterlings of Africa
Both you and I
We are on the road to Phelamanga
Beneath a copper sky
And we are the scatterlings of Africa
On a journey to the stars
Far below, we leave forever
Dreams of what we were


Great Heart

The world is full of strange behaviour
Every man has to be his own saviour
I know I can make it on my own if I try
But I'm searching for a Great Heart to stand me by
Underneath the African sky
A Great Heart to stand me by

Chorus:
I'm searching for the spirit of the Great Heart
To hold and stand me by
I'm searching for the spirit of the Great Heart
Under African sky
I'm searching for the spirit of the Great Heart
I see the fire in your eyes
I'm searching for the spirit of the Great Heart
That beats my name inside
Sometimes I feel that you really know me
Sometimes there's much you can show me

There's a highway of stars across the heavens
The whispering song of the wind in the grass
There's the rolling thunder across the savanna
A hope and dream at the edge of the sky
And your life is a story like the wind
Your life is a story like the wind

Chorus

Guk a 'mzimba (body grow old)
Sala 'nhliziyo (but heart remain behind)


Asimbonanga (Mandela)

Chorus:
Asimbonanga                    (We have not seen him)
Asimbonang' uMandela thina     (We have not seen Mandela)
Laph'ekhona                    (In the place where he is)
Laph'ehlikhona                 (In the place where he is kept)


Oh the sea is cold and the sky is grey
Look across the Island into the Bay
We are all islands till comes the day
We cross the burning water

Chorus....

A seagull wings across the sea
Broken silence is what I dream
Who has the words to close the distance
Between you and me

Chorus....

Steve Biko, Victoria Mxenge
Neil Aggett
Asimbonanga
Asimbonanga 'umfowethu thina          (we have not seen our brother)
Laph'ekhona                    (In the place where he is)
Laph'wafela khona              (In the place where he died)
Hey wena                       (Hey you!)
Hey wena nawe                  (Hey you and you as well)
Sizofika nini la' siyakhona    (When will we arrive at our destination)


Dela (I Know Why The Dog Howls At The Moon)

One day I looked up and there you stood
Like a simple question looking for an answer
Now I am a whale listening to some inner call
Swimming blindly to throw myself upon your shores
But what if I don't find when I have landed
Would you leave me here to die on your shores stranded?
I think I know why the dog howls at the moon.
I think I know why the dog howls at the moon.

I say:
"Dela! Dela! Ngiyadela!
(Content, content I am content)
When I am with you!
Dela! Sondela mama!
(Closer, closer, come closer mama)
I burn for you!

Chorus:
I've been waiting for you all my life -- waiting for a miracle
I've been waiting day and night -- waiting for redemption
I burn for you

A blind bird sings inside the cage that is my heart
And the image of your face comes to me when I'm alone in the dark
If I could give a shape to this ache that I have for you
If I could find the voice that says the words that capture you
I think I know, I think I know
I think I know why the dog howls at the moon.

I say:
"Dela! Dela! Ngiyadela!
(Content, content I am content)
When I am with you!
Dela! Sondela mama!
(Closer, closer, come closer mama)
I burn for you!

Chorus


Siyayilanda

Chorus
Siyayibamba siyayilanda
Ngithibamba siyayilanda
Sithibamba siyayilanda
Fetch it siyayilanda
(We are fetching our future, grabbing our tomorrow)
Repeat

Human figures in a dream
Heard them singing -- Siyayilanda (we are fetching it)
You've got to get up
And carry on sing this song -- Siyayilanda
There's a mean machine
Tear the bone clean, tell you
Where I've been -- Siyayilanda
Eat, sleep on your feet
You're going to speak -- Siyayilanda

Chorus

A falling star in the night
Comfort the weeper -- Siyayilanda
You turn to the left and you turn to the right,
Losers, keepers -- Siyayilanda
Hold me close I'm trapped in
A night of seasons -- Siyayilanda
A new sun rising up ahead
Coming your way -- Siyayilanda

Chorus

I can feel it in the air
My day is coming nearer
My day's a little nearer


One (Hu)'man One Vote

Bayeza abafana bancane wema
Bayeza abafana bancane wema
Baphethe iqwasha, baphethe ibazooka
Bathi "Sangena savuma thina,
Lapha abazange bengena abazali bethu
Nabadala, bayasikhalela thina ngoba asina voti."

(The young boys are coming,
the young boys are coming.
They carry homemade weapons and a bazooka.
They say "We have agreed to enter a place
that has never been entered before
by our parents or our ancestors
and they cry for us, for we do not have the right to vote.)

Hayiyaah!

The west is sleeping in a fragile freedom
Forgotten is the price that was paid
Ten thousand years of marching through a veil of tears
To break a few links in these chains
These things come to us by way of much pain
Don't let us slip back into the dark
On a visible but distant shore -- a new image of man
The shape of his own future, now in his own hands -- he says:

Chorus:
One 'man, one vote -- step into the future
One 'man, one vote -- in a unitary state
One 'man, one vote -- tell them when you see them
One 'man, one vote -- it's the only way

Bayeza abafana abancane
(The young boys are coming)

Hayiyaah!

In the east a giant is awakening
And in the south we feel the rising tide
The soul inside the spark that gives breath to your life
Can no longer be made to hide
These things come to us by way of much pain
Don't let us slip back into the dark
On a visible but distant shore -- a new image of man
The shape of his own future, now in his own hands -- he says:

Chorus


The Crossing (OSIYEZA) (for Dudu)

Through all the days that eat away
at every breath that I take
through all the nights I've lain alone
in someone else's dream, awake
all the words in truth we have spoken
that the wind has blown away
it's only you that remains with me
clear as the light of day

Chorus: O Siyeza, o siyeza , sizofika webaba noma
(we are coming, we are coming, we will arrive soon)
O siyeza, o siyeza, siyagudle lomhlaba
(we are coming, we are coming, we are moving across this earth)
Siyawela lapheshaya lulezontaba ezimnyama
(we are crossing over those dark mountains)
Lapha sobheka phansi konke ukhulupheka
(where we will lay down our troubles)

A punch drunk man in a downtown bar
takes a beating without making a sound
through swollen eyes he sways and smiles
'cause noone can put him down
inside of him a boy looks up to his father
for a sign or an approving eye
oh, it's funny how those once so close and now gone
can still so affect our lives

Chorus

Take me now, hold me close
don't let go, I'm coming home

Chorus


Take My Heart Away

Chorus
Take my heart away (repeat)

To be the sound of wild geese calling
To be ten seasons in a night
To dance the sun beyond the tides of war and peace
To put silence stained by crimes to flight
I need to heart-break-loose-the wind
Dedela umoya, wami baba
(Set my spirit free, father)

Chorus

To see your eyes shine like two desert stars
To see life burning with a mission
To break the empty circle of living and dying
To leave a child with a vision
I need to heart-break-loose-the wind
Dedela umoya, wami baba
(Set my spirit free, father)

Chorus

Sing me the songs that won the battle
Sing me the first and the last man's glory
Sing me the songs that taste of freedom
Thread me through with your sacred needle

Liyeza, liyeza, liyeza ilanga lami seliyeza
(It's coming, it's coming, my day is coming)


Cruel Crazy Beautiful World

You have to wash with the crocodile in the river
You have to swim with the sharks in the sea
You have to live with the crooked politician
Trush those things that you can never see
Ayeye ayeye jesse mfana (jesse boy) ayeye ayeye

Chorus:
It's a cruel crazy beautiful world
Every time you wake up I hope it's under a blue sky
It's a cruel crazy beautiful world
One day when you wake up I will have to say goodbye
Goodbye -- It's your world so live in it!

Beyond the door, strange cruel beautiful years lie waiting for you
It kills me to know you won't escape loneliness,
Maybe you lose hope too
Ayeye ayeye jesse mfana ayeye ayeye

Chorus

When I feel your small body close to mine
I feel weak and strong at the same time
So few years to give you wings to fly
Show you the stars to guide your ship by

Chorus

It's your world so live in it


I Call Your Name (Ngibiza Igama Lakho)

Oh no, you've gone again
I feel like Daniel in the lion's den
Stone cold in the afternoon
So alone in the empty room
They say that four walls do not a prison make
I'm trying to find a way out but there seems no escape
When I feel the hidden power that lies inside your sound
Like the ghost inside the atom that spins it round and round
There's magic in some words, some things you can't explain
That conjures up that feeling of the sun inside the rain

Chorus
When the wind is blowing like a lonesome train
I reach out and touch you and I call your name
When the night is lonely and I fear the coming day
I reach out and touch you
And I call your name -- ngibiza igama lakho

Oh no, don't let the sun go down
I'm so low, I feel underground
There's no easy road and no easy way
To say the things I have to say
'Cause I know that time is a distance and distance is a space
I've come so far to find you, it's you I can't replace
When I feel the hidden power that lies inside your sound
Like the ghost inside the atom that spins it round and round
There's magic in some words some things you can't explain
That conjures up that feeling of the sun inside the rain

Chorus


In My African Dream

Something broke the place where the rain is bornb
something stole the promise from the light of dawn
people, people were everywhere struggling to get their share
honest cruelty in the eyes of the innocent
squeezing one more harvest from this tired earth
they call to you, but the wind just blows away their words
didn't believe in miracles, didn't believe you'd come
didn't see any reason to carry on

Chorus:
But in my African Dream, you touched my face
raised up my children and gave them grace
in my African Dream you wiped away my tears
and whispered the promise of a thousand years

Children with eyes like souls ready to fly
looking at me -- for some kind of sacred sign
who will teach the young, the names of the ancient ones
who will tell them from whence they come
I have no answer, don't even have a prayer
All I can do is close my eyes and hope that you will be thre

In my African Dream you blessed the rain
let me stand proud, eased the pain,
you raised me up,
gave me love, filled my cup.

Old man sits in the shade of the thorn treee
he says "these thorns are all that are true
life is suffering, suffering is life,
be happy with the small things that come to you
They will come to you, come to you."

Chorus


These days

Yashimbawula!  (the watchman's fire is burning)

What happened to the diamonds in your eyes,
What happened to the hunger for the day's chase?
What happened to the electric smile
That danced across your face
We used to talk about changing the world
Now all you want to do is change your name
Come on baby don't surrender now
to the empty heart of these days.
We used to talk so deep into the night
You had the heart of a wild horse running
You bared your soul to me
and we both knew these days were coming

Chorus:
These days -- blood in the heavens
These days -- fire and ice
These days -- burning streets and visions
These days -- of the loveless child

Yashimbawula!

You were the reason I came here
You will always be the one I am looking for
I can't stand to see the way
these days are pushing you against the wall
Got to get up, got to move out
Face the tide beyond the door
Outside there's a whole world changing
We can't stand here, trapped inside
Let's step out and test the weazther
Hang on baby, it's going to ge a rough ride thru'

Chorus

These days -- searching for a vision
These days -- gun metal blue
These days -- changing my religion
These days -- heartless and cruel

say the words and fill my sails
I will love you through the coming gale
we'll get through the darkest heart of these days

"It's killing time"
Who will watch the watchers?
Who will keep the keepers?
Who will love the lovers -- could you?

Chorus....


Tough enough

LOMHLABA UNZIMA, LOMHLABA
[this world is a harsh place, this world]

Picture the end of a cycle
here's the fire from heaven
There's a tired planeet closing down
no more news at eleven
somewhere the last of a species has died
somewhere a child is born
when I hold you, I tremble inside
can we ride out the storm?
Are you tough enough -- can you take the strain?
Are you tough enough -- to walk in the burning rain
Are you tough enough -- can you take the change?
Are you tough enough -- baby just say!

Chorus:
Into the heart of the human dream
into a strange new world
remember me under the Tree of Man
where I first heard your words
gonna make it through, I can feel it

What we need is a miracle
what we need is some time
what we need is an angel of Mercy
in this life

Are you tough enough -- can you take the heat?
Are you tough enough -- to walk in the burning street
Are you tough enough -- can you take the change
Are you tough enough -- baby just say!

Chorus...

There's your mama and your papa
waving good-bye in the cold moonlight
in their eyes the confusion of a world gone by
and you hold me tightly as we step out
into the morning light
and I know you are thinking that for something to be born
somthing has to die.

Chorus...

Vele vele we mama kunjalo
[It is true, it's obvious. Mama, it is just as you say].


Africa (What Made You So Strong)

Rain falling like a symphony
On the roof top of my heart
There's a movement in the whispering deep
Before the new dream starts
I see your eyes shining like a neon light .
Smiling in the dark - What made you so strong ?
-What made you so strong ?
I've seen you dealing in the market place
Buying political regrets
And you've been walking on the water again
But your feet never ever get wet
But you just say...
Chorus: Afrika kukhala abangcwele
(Africa your innocent weep)
I light a candle for the innocent ones
I light a candle for our love
Say a prayer for peace on earth
For the daughters and the sons
And your life is like a cheap street fight
And you're laughing in the dark - What
Made you so strong ? (repeat)
I've been waiting all my life for this
To see how the deal gees down -
There's an AK 47 on the dashboard
And mercy's left this town, and you say...
Chorus: Afrika kukhala abangcwele !
(Africa your innocent weep...
That's the way
It is.. .What makes you so strong ?

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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