The lyrics are consistently substantial and frequently sociopolitical - "Bombs Away" addresses the violence of the apartheid regime, while "Warsaw 1943" reflects on the horrors Eastern Europe experienced at the hands of both communists and fascists during World War II. Sting and the Police are a definite influence on Clegg & Savuka, who have absorbed everything from various African pop styles to Western pop, funk, rock, and reggae. Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World Lyrics by Johnny Clegg from the The Best of Johnny Clegg & Savuka: In My African Dream album - including song video. at the end of the 1980s, Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World is among the many rewarding albums the band has recorded. Their lyrics were often vehemently anti-apartheid, and apartheid supporters hated the fact that a half-black, half-white outfit out of South Africa was integrated and proud of it. (Although the Sting comparison still applies.) There’s nothing traditional about Savuka’s sound, but the stylistic weave serves both ingredients nicely for a change, and the album finds a satisfying midpoint between disparate cultures.When South Africa was still suffering under the apartheid system in the 1980s, Johnny Clegg & Savuka was the last thing apartheid supporters wanted in a pop group.
Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World has songs of both anger and optimism, presented with a more comfortable blend of musical idioms than ever before. Like many other artists, Clegg was electrified by the tumultuous political events of the late ’80s. Unfortunately, he can’t have it both ways, and this fusion sounds more like an American effort to sound African than vice versa. Attempting to join the Anglo-American mainstream without abandoning his homeland (for which his love seems genuine enough), Clegg drops Zulu phrases and instrumentation like a social climber mentioning famous names at a party. Too bad Paul Simon beat him to the bank.īy Shadow Man, Clegg is starting to sound a bit like Sting, a catchy pop hybrid of synthesizers and African percussion. The slick production of Third World Child relieves it of the simple, unassuming emotionality of township music, and the selfconscious, breast-beating lyrics of the title track and “Berlin Wall” suggest that Clegg’s gunning for the Nobel peace prize while attempting to forge a calculated commercial sound.
( The Best of Juluka, which compiles the group’s American albums with a sampling from its four African-only releases, dating back to 1979, paints an incrementally more compelling image of the group.)Ĭlegg’s subsequent band Savuka (which retains two members - not Mchunu - from Juluka) is even more Western-oriented. records, are a mush of sweet, laid-back California style harmonies over a loping backbeat, with mild anti-apartheid sentiments. The Crossing (Osiyeza) The Crossing (Osiyeza) Johnny Clegg & Savuka. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Cruel Crazy Beautiful World - Audio CD By Johnny Clegg & Savuka - VERY GOOD at the best online. Johnny Clegg and Savuka - Cruel Crazy Beautiful World.mp3: 7. The results, heard on both of the interracial group’s Warner Bros. Johnny Clegg and Savuka - One (Hu)man One Vote.mp3: 8.37 Mb: download: 2. In a well-intentioned gesture of political unity, singer/guitarist Johnny Clegg (an English academic raised in Zimbabwe and South Africa) joined forces with Sipho Mchunu, a black South African street musician, to form Juluka, a failed experiment in combining rock with Zulu chants and the mbaqanga sound of the South African township.