At the age of 14, Clegg met
Zulu street musician Charlie Mzila, who taught him Zulu music and dancing over the following two years. In 1969 Johnny Clegg and Sipho Mchunu met in
Johannesburg when young Sipho went there to find work. The 18-year-old Mchunu challenged the 16-year-old Clegg to a guitar contest, and the two became friends. Soon, they were performing together on the streets and in what few other unofficial venues a multi-racial band could safely play in under
apartheid. They were forced to keep a low profile and their success came from word of mouth instead of through traditional publicity. Clegg himself was arrested and beaten up by the police on several occasions for his activities, and also for the band's
lyrics. For some commentators, Juluka was the band that had the greatest success in challenging the racial separateness of Apartheid. When performing, both black and white band members would appear on stage in traditional
Zulu dress and perform the traditional Zulu dance together while singing in Zulu and English. In 1976, Clegg and Mchunu released their debut single, "Uthi Angizule" as Jonathan Clegg & Sipho Mchunu, followed three years later by the debut Juluka album, the critically acclaimed
Universal Men. The album's poetic lyrics were strongly influenced by
John Berger's
A Seventh Man as well as
Pablo Neruda and
Jean-Paul Sartre. Expanding to a quintet, they released a second album,
African Litany, in late 1981. The album's lead single, "Impi", with its pointedly political lyrics about a defeat of the colonial British army by the Zulus at the
Battle of Isandlwana, was banned by South African radio but became an underground hit. In contemporary South Africa it is often associated with national sports teams. The album garnered them their first international attention, and they were able to successfully tour in Europe and North America in 1982 and 1983. However, in June 1983, the British music magazine,
NME, reported that they were initially banned by the
Musicians Union as, ..."since it would not be possible to approve one of our bands working in South Africa, there is no possibility of an exchange". The ban was eventually lifted, with the group donating their fees to charity. The group disbanded in 1985 when Mchunu moved back to the farm where he was born in
Natal to take care of his family. Clegg went on to form a new band,
Savuka, with whom he achieved even greater international success. In 1997, however, the two friends came back for a final album together,
Ya Vuka Inkunzi later released as
Crocodile Love. It did not receive the critical acclaim of early Juluka albums like
Universal Men,
African Litany,
Work for All and
Scatterlings. == Music ==