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:

@jasperdick/rtwpsovs

@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/

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