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JOHANNESBURG (AP) – Johnny Clegg, a South African musician defying the racial barriers imposed by the country's apartheid system and celebrating his new democracy under Nelson Mandela, died on Tuesday. He was 66 years old and had pancreatic cancer.
The British singer, a Grammy nominee, sometimes called "Zulu White," died peacefully at home in Johannesburg with his family, according to Clegg's director, Roddy Quin.
"He fought until the last second," Quin told the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
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The multiracial groups of Clegg under the domination of the white minority in South Africa have attracted an international audience. He has created tubes inspired by Zulu and Cantonal harmonies, as well as folk music and other influences.
The South African government said in a statement that "his music has the ability to unite people across races …. Clegg has left an indelible mark in the music industry and in the hearts of people. "
One of his best-known songs is "Asimbonanga", which means "we've never seen it" in Zulu. It refers to South Africans during apartheid when images of the then imprisoned Mandela were banned. Mandela was released in 1990 after 27 years in prison and became South Africa's first black president in presidential elections four years later.
The leader of the political opposition, Mmusi Maimane, said that Clegg "wrote the story of our South Africa when our country was at its worst and at its best".
The Soweto Gospel Choir, winner of a Grammy, said he was "devastated" by Clegg's death and termed it "icon of music and true South African". His fellow musicians have published similar tributes on social media.
Clegg heard about Zulu music and dance in adolescence when he attended a Zulu cleaner and street musician called Charlie Mzila. He then explored his idea of "cross-over" music with multiracial groups Juluka and Savuka at the time of a fierce conflict in South Africa over the dominance of the white minority in the country.
Clegg recorded songs for which he was arrested and "never gave in to pressure from the rules of apartheid," said his manager.
The censorship of the apartheid era also limited the places where it could happen, but Clegg "has touched millions of people around the world," Quin said. "He has played a major role in South Africa by making people familiar with the culture of congregation and bringing them closer together."
The musician has produced it until 2017, beating loudly and strikingly during a tour titled "The Final Journey", while his cancer was in remission.
Johnny Clegg, known as "White Zulu" performs a song at a concert in Johannesburg on November 6, 2010. The concert was meant to celebrate Clegg's thirty years of music. (AP Photo / Denis Farrell)
At a concert in Johannesburg that year, Clegg said that "all these inputs into traditional culture have given me a way to understand myself, helping me to forge some kind of". African identity, and have released me to consider another way of seeing things. the world."
In December, Clegg told the South African channel eNCA that "the hardest part of my trip would be the next two years" and called himself "singular" in an interview on mortality.
A cancer was diagnosed in the artist in 2015 and the exhausting treatment included two chemotherapy sessions lasting six months and one operation.
"I do not have a duodenum and half of my stomach. I do not have a bile duct. I do not have a gall bladder and half of my pancreas. Everything has been reconfigured, "he told reporters in 2017.
Johnny Clegg performing 'Asimbonanga' during a tour of Germany in 1997 with Nelson Mandela (screenshot via YouTube)
In this interview, Clegg recalled how he had performed "Asimbonanga" during a tour of Germany in 1997 and had experienced a "huge shock" when Mandela, dancing and beaming, appeared unexpectedly behind him.
"It's the music and the dance that make me at peace with the world. And at peace with myself, "Mandela told the audience. He asked Clegg to resume his performance and invited the audience to get up and dance.
At the end of the song, Mandela and Clegg, holding hands, left the stage.
"It was the best moment for me," recalls Clegg. "It was just a complete and amazing gift from the universe."
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