Johnny Clegg Brings Western Pop and African Zulu Rhythms to Pepperdine Tonight

Internationally award-winning South African singer, songwriter, and activist Johnny Clegg brings his infectious and vibrant blend of Western pop and African Zulu rhythms to Pepperdine University's Smothers Theatre in Malibu tonight, April 23 at 8 p.m.

Tickets, priced starting at $25 for the public and $10 for full-time Pepperdine students, are available now by calling (310) 506-4522 or online at arts.pepperdine.edu. More information about Johnny Clegg available at www.johnnyclegg.com.

Johnny Clegg is one of South Africa's most celebrated sons. He is a singer, a songwriter, a dancer, anthropologist and a musical activist whose infectious crossover music has exploded onto the international scene and broken through all the barriers in his own country.

Over three decades, Johnny Clegg has sold over five million albums and has wowed vast audiences with his audacious live shows. He has won a number of national and international awards for his music and for his outspoken views on apartheid, his perspectives on migrant workers in South Africa, and the general situation in the world today.

Johnny Clegg was born in Bacup, near Rochdale, England, in 1953, but was brought up in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Between his mother (a cabaret and jazz singer) and his step-father (a crime reporter who took him into the townships at an early age), Johnny was exposed to a broader cultural perspective than that available to his peers.

While lecturing on anthropology at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, Clegg worked on the concept of blending English lyrics and Western melodies with Zulu musical structures alongside his songwriting and performance partner, Sipho Mchunu. This blend was recognized by South African producer, Hilton Rosenthal, who became the champion of the project and who continues to promote Johnny Clegg's work today.

Clegg and Mchunu called their band, JULUKA, which means "sweat" in Zulu. Their music was subjected to censorship and internal restrictions on the state-owned radio and their only way to access an audience was through touring. They played at universities, church halls, and migrant labor hostels and in the living rooms of private houses because the law forbade mixed race performances in public venues and spaces. Juluka was most fruitful during 1982 and 1983 with tours of the USA, Canada, Germany, and Scandinavia. In the six years that they were together, the band recorded two platinum and five gold albums and became an international success. Juluka split up in 1985 when Mchunu returned to his roots as a cattle farmer in Zululand.

During this time, Clegg formed another crossover band, SAVUKA (which means "we have risen"). His concept was to mix African music with a wider music base and international rock sounds. Savuka's first album (Third World Child, 1987) broke all international sales records in France, Switzerland and Belgium in 1988. They went on to record four additional albums and tour extensively in Europe and North America, breaking all attendance records in France in 1988 and 1989.

Following a brief reunion in 1997 with his lifelong friend, Mchunu, during which Juluka released one final album, Ya Vuka Inkunzi, Clegg recorded a number of solo projects. Since 2004, he has toured Europe and North America extensively with his band, playing to capacity houses and appearing at several world-famous events including the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, New Orleans Jazzfest, Festival de Cornauille-France, Festineuch in Switzerland, Musique Métisses at Angouleme (France's premier World Music festival), Live at Sunset (Zuric), Fête de l'humanité in Paris, and Quebec Summer Festival (Festival d'eté de Québec).

Human, Clegg's most recent studio album, was released in 2010, although on tour he continues to perform his greatest hits of the past 30 years, as well as new unplugged songs from his forthcoming album. The 2012 North American tour marked a first time ever collaboration between township vocalists and three-time Grammy Award winners, Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Johnny Clegg with his seven-piece band. Notably, Clegg's live shows also include stories and tributes to the late former South African president, Nelson Mandela (1918-2013).

Johnny Clegg performed at all four of Nelson Mandela's 46664 Aids Awareness Concerts in South Africa and in Norway. Mandela once joined him on stage during the performance of "Asimbonanga," a song written by Johnny about Mandela (and other struggle heroes) during his period of incarceration. At every live performance of this song, the audience, charged with emotion, spontaneously rises to their feet. Clegg wrote and performed the poem below in honor of Nelson Mandela.

Four universities recently awarded Clegg honorary doctorates: University of KwaZulu-Natal (2013), Dartmouth College (2012), CUNY (2011), and University of the Witwatersrand (2007). In 2012, he received the South African Presidential Ikhamanga Award from President Jacob Zuma -- the highest honor a citizen can receive in South Africa.

Opening for The Johnny Clegg Band will be Jesse Clegg, a South African alternative rock artist whose 2008 debut album, When I Wake Up, and his 2011 follow up, Life On Mars, have both made the 26-year-old a platinum-selling success in his home country. More information can be found at jesseclegg.com.

The Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts at Pepperdine University provides high-quality activities for over 50,000 people from 664 zip codes annually through performances, rehearsals, museum exhibitions, and master classes. Located on Pepperdine's breathtaking Malibu campus overlooking the Pacific, the center serves as a hub for the arts, uniquely linking professional guest artists with Pepperdine students as well as patrons from surrounding Southern California communities. Facilities include the 450-seat Smothers Theatre, the 118-seat Raitt Recital Hall, the "black box" Helen E. Lindhurst Theatre, and the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art.

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