AFRITUNES WEEK 113 - "Africa" (Johnny Clegg / Juluka) Cover by @jasperdick
Hello everybody on HIVE, and especially the AFRITUNES Community. My name is Jasper, and I'm writing (and singing) to you from Cape Town, South Africa! Welcome to Week 113 of AFRITUNES.
I love South Africa and some of the special flavours of music we get here, and I look forward to doing a few posts on AFRITUNES to bring you music from South Africa, or to show you my original songs that have South African inspiration…
Today I would like to sing “Africa”, a song released by the “White Zulu” Johnny Clegg and his band Juluka that I love so much. Please click the links below for my previous posts to read the story of how Johnny Clegg befriended Zulu people and formed the Juluka band with Sipho Mchunu, mixing Zulu music and language into Western Music during a time when this was illegal in Apartheid South Africa:
https://ecency.com/hive-195772/@jasperdick/rtwpsovs
https://ecency.com/hive-195772/@jasperdick/oyinjpdo
As for this week’s song, the chorus basically says “Africa cries out to the Holy Ones/Righteous People: Stay”
Give a listen to the original here:
Lyrics for “Africa” by Juluka
Afrika kukhala abangcwele (Africa cries out for the holy ones/the righteous)
EAfrika kukhala abangcwele wena
Afrika kukhala abangcwele
EAfrika kukhala abangcwele wena
Hlala Hlala (Stay)
He was born in the African dawn and orphaned to the land
So gentle in the eye he was as any woman′s child
Repeat Chorus
As he grew people told him, son, don't you trust anyone
You learn how to trust a stone
This is not gentle land then it breaks those
Who never learned how to be alone
Repeat Chorus
And so he walked in the fashion of his lands
Until at last he cried out
Can anybody hear me, hear me, hear the song in my heart
There′s a song to be sung that can heal these broken men
Let us sing and we'll walk through the dark
Hand in hand, hand in hand
Repeat Chorus
Repeat Chorus (with key up 2 semitones)
SOURCE: https://www.songlyrics.com/johnny-clegg-juluka/africa-lyrics/
▶️ 3Speak
If you didn't mention, I would think you are Spanish😊
It's nice listening to your performance. You play and sing amazingly.
Spanish!!! Perhaps that's because countries like Venezuela have such a big presence here on HIVE!
As it happens, my only sister first moved to the UK, but then decided she much preferred Barcelona in Spain where she is still living today, and slowly learning the language! I have visited her there once and it was great, so hopefully I can go and visit again one day!
Beautiful presentation @jasperdick
The lyrics are beautiful and I so much love this song, the both languages compliment each other very well in the song and the transposing part caught my attention more..🤠
Thank You For Sharing This With Us
I thought you might like this funny meme a friend shared on Facebook, which shows a bit of South Africa's sense of humour in a country with 11 official languages!
Besides the cute joke, it does show that Johnny Clegg is still prevalent in our minds even after he has passed away, and that he learnt stick-fighting and war-dancing and many other aspects of the Zulu culture, as well as the language and music / guitar style I am trying to show in these posts - and he did so much to inspire unity and integration in a time where the white Government was enforcing Apartheid (racial segregation) through multiple laws...