I was introduced to African pop music in the 1980s through Johnny Clegg’s album “African Shadow Man.” It was accessible but unique to my experience, and led me to seek out his other works. Johnny Clegg, a white South African, fronted a multi-racial pop group (Juluka) along with a black South African, Sipphu Mchuno during the apartheid era. Their music makes an interesting blend of many styles of local music and European-influenced pop. They say that Juluka influenced Peter Gabriel’s sound.
Later, Clegg went on to form Savuka, and continued with his musical career solo on occasion. I’ve seen Clegg/Juluka/Savuka in concert three times (once in Guelph, twice in Toronto), and just missed seeing him in Sydney on my second trip down under.
If you want a sense of what his sound is, it’s a lot like Paul Simon’s Graceland album, which in my mind seemed to lift whole melodies from Clegg’s albums. Compare, if you get the chance, “Joey Don’t Do It” from African Shadow Man (1988) to “You Can Call Me Al” from Graceland (1997). To me, the horns are playing a note-for-note match.
I don’t own Graceland.
While I liked Clegg’s sound, I wanted more than I could find. I scoured the local library (the Hamilton Public Library had a great collection of South African music, kudos to whoever was controlling that). That was when I discovered the Thunder Before Dawn and Sounds of Soweto compilations and also a duet called Malopoets.
My musical-geographical education of Africa started in the south, moved through Tabu Lay Rochero (Congo) and into west Africa. Yousou n’Dour, Ali Farka Toure, Ismael Lo, Jimi Mbaye, and Solomon Roger (aka S. E. Rogie) all make for interesting listening from that part of the continent. Lately, I’ve moved back to South African music with Vusi Mahlasela.
Look for Ali Farka Toure's Talking Timbuktu with Ry Cooder. Two men playing acoustic guitars with traditional musicians accompanying them. You won't understand the lyrics, and some of it may be jarring to hear, but there's magic there.
I’d love to be able to post some of this stuff for you to hear, but that’d violate too many laws. Besides which, these are artists you should be purchasing, instead of the same old same old that the major labels are always pushing.
