Hilton Rosenthal, Professor David Peimer, and Jesse Clegg
Johnny Clegg: Le Zulu Blanc: A Remarkable South African Musician and Anthropologist, Part 1 (with Special Guest Jesse Clegg)
Summary
Johnny Clegg was a unique South African musician. He was born in Manchester to a Jewish mother, but grew up in South Africa and immersed himself in Zulu culture, music and dance. During apartheid, he transcended the racial divide and he created a real fusion of Scottish, Celtic and Zulu music which was globally renowned. Professor David Peimer will interview Hilton Rosenthal, Johnny’s very close friend and producer. Together, they will explore the inspiring life and times of Johnny Clegg. They will be joined by special guest Jesse Clegg, Johnny Clegg’s son.
Hilton Rosenthal
Hilton Rosenthal has been in the music business since graduating from Wits University in 1972, when he joined CBS (now Sony) in South Africa. In 1978 he signed Johnny Clegg and his partner Sipho Mchunu, producing and publishing all of Juluka’s and Savuka’s albums. He started his own independent label in 1980, which he sold to EMI years later before moving to set up a studio in Los Angeles. Artists Hilton has worked with include Paul Simon, Carole King, Harry Belafonte, Foreigner, and Christopher Cross. He currently lives in Sydney, Australia.
Professor David Peimer
David Peimer is a professor of theatre and performance studies in the UK. He has taught at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and New York University (Global Division), and was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University. Born in South Africa, David has won numerous awards for playwriting and directing. He has written eleven plays and directed forty in places like South Africa, New York, Brussels, London, Berlin, Zulu Kingdom, Athens, and more. His writing has been published widely and he is the editor of Armed Response: Plays from South Africa (2009) and the interactive digital book Theatre in the Camps (2012). He is on the board of the Pinter Centre in London.
Jesse Clegg
Jesse Clegg is a platinum-selling South African singer-songwriter. Throughout his career Jesse has released ten Top 10 radio singles and has been nominated for five South African Music Awards. He has toured both nationally and internationally, including the Isle of Wight Festival in the UK, SXSW in Austin, Texas, and Radio City Music Hall in New York for the annual Mandela Day Concert. He has toured and collaborated with multiple international acts including Daughtry, Walk the Moon, Msaki, Shekhinah, DJ Kent, Joan Armatrading, and most recently as the main support for the Imagine Dragons stadium tour across South Africa. Jesse has released three studio albums and is currently working on his new album in Los Angeles with Grammy-winning producer Tim Pagnotta.
He was born in Rochdale in the United Kingdom, 1953 and he died in 2019 and he died of cancer, pancreatic cancer.