Track Listing

1. Daughter Of Eden
2. Jongosi
3. Makhabeleni
4. Thamela Die Son Trek Water
5. Revolution Will Eat Its Children (Anthem For Uncle Bob)
6. Utshani Obulele
7. Faut Pas Baisser Les Bras
8. Devana
9. Bull Heart
10. Day In The Life
11. Boy Soldier
12. Touch The Sun
13. 4 Box Square
14. I Don't Want To Be Away
15. Locked And Loaded
16. Utshani Obulele

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #70148 in Music
• Released on: 2006-10-30
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

The 'white zulu' strikes again!
Johnny Clegg is known as the white zulu - born in England, raised in South Africa, becoming a lecturer in anthropology specialising in Zulu before founding South Africa's leading multi racial pop group Jaluka in the mid 1970's. I saw him perform several songs from this album in his sell out concert at the Shepherds Bush Empire in London in November 2006 - in front of 2000 adoring fans and rushed out to buy it as it is well up the standard of his earlier material.

I have been a Clegg fan since first seeing him in London the late 1980's. As ever this album has all the usual Clegg trademarks - a fascinating mixture of English and Zulu words and musical influences, with intelligent lyrics, superb guitars and lilting African rhythms driven by great bass and drums. Clegg's music is distinguished by its great choruses - virtually every track has a melody or chorus with an infexious hook in it.

With his academic background his lyrics are sometimes a little too earnest but generally he hits the mark. Songs like 'Boy Soldier' - a telling evocation of the tragic African children forced to be soldiers - or 'The Revolution will eat its children' - about the ruination that Mugabe has brought to Zimbabwe - are good reminders that Clegg has been writing about important issues now for 30 years.

If you are already a Clegg fan then you will enjoy this album with its strong echoes of his classic Jaluka and Savuka work. It also has several tracks that explore newer areas with songs in French and Africaans and a great opening track 'Daughter of Eden' that draws on Cuban influences. If you are new to him then the album is good introduction with a wide variety of pace and style.

It is hard to categorise Clegg's work. It is filed in World Music because of its Zulu content. But this is not just music for a few aficionados of African music. It is great rock - sometimes with a folk tinge. Great tunes, thumping beats, thought provoking lyrics. Try it and see. He deserves to be better known than he is.

A great return to form!
The first half of this album gets right back to Johnny's roots, harkening back to the heyday with Savuka. A lot of Zulu lyrics interspersed with the familiar fusion style that Johnny infuses into every single one of his songs - lots of African rhythms, instruments, and lyrics, brought together with some western pop influences. And taken as a whole, I feel this is his best album since Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World. I definitely am leaning toward the first half of the album as my favorite, since the second half sounds a bit too pop oriented, and mostly sung in English. There is one song on here that is mostly sung in French though, a nice new direction that I haven't heard from Johnny before.

Definitely check this album out if you're at all into African pop music!

Discover new fusions
Powerful, rhythmic ,uplifting ,anthemic, serious , thoughtful , hugely enjoyable... despite language barriers.....hooked!