In 1988, Johnny Clegg, nicknamed the "White Zulu", released his hit , Asimbonanga. And while Nelson Mandela has been imprisoned since 1964, the title symbolizes a whole era: "Asimbonanga", in Zulu means "the one we have not seen": at the time, distributing photos of Nelson Mandela was illegal .
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The official song of the United Democratic Front
A refrain in Zulu, verses in English: it is a political choice of Johnny Clegg, singer with white skin to denounce apartheid in South Africa. This song even becomes the official song of the United Democratic Front, the country's anti-racial coalition. It comes out only two years after a very special anniversary: that of the ten years of the riots in Soweto, which left 600 dead.
In this tense country, which lives under a state of emergency, Johnny Clegg has always been involved. For his first group, Juluka, he is the first white to have only black musicians. Their hit , Scatterlings of Africa, released in 1982 is at the top of sales in the United States and France.
A duet with Nelson Mandela in Frankfurt
It is with his second group, Savuka, that he released Asimbonanga. Johnny Clegg, inevitably, is then censored in South Africa. His songs are banned. "We had to show a thousand and one tricks to get around the myriad of laws that prevented any interracial reconciliation," he explained later. With his group, he performed in universities, in private homes ...
Nelson Mandela was not released until 1990. Ten years later, both performed Asimbonanga in Frankfurt. At the end of the song, Nelson Mandela launches: "It is the music and the dance that put me at peace with the world". Johnny Clegg left us almost a year ago.