Colorful four-panel artwork titled "Juluka African Sky Blue" showing…

About this image

A vibrant, four-panel piece in a stained-glass style titled "Juluka African Sky Blue." It combines lush savanna landscapes, wildlife, and a dynamic forge scene with glowing sparks, all framed by intricate borders. The piece blends warm sunset hues with cool blues and greens to evoke energy, community, and Africa’s diverse beauty.

A vibrant, four-panel album artwork depicting diverse African scenes: sunlit beach with children near the water, elephants along a river, a thunder-lit savanna with travelers, and a miner exploring a glowing cave. The ornate central banner proclaims "JULUKA AFRICAN SKY BLUE," framed by intricate patterns and rich, saturated colors that evoke adventure, nature, and exploration.

Comments (14)

• @CaylaCatz · Mar 12, 2026

  Very cool image. I haven't heard Johnny Clegg in a long time. I found his album in a Tempe, Arizona used music shop back when people still bought CDs. It was "Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World" with his band Johnny Clegg & Savuka. I didn't know about this earlier band Juluka. This song's sound is very chipper but when you listen to the lyrics, there's also an underlying sadness at the hardship. Given that it was written during apartheid and the group's difficulty to even play anywhere as a bicultural group together was illegal (having their concerts broken up, getting beaten, etc) , the bit about the gold mining was also referring to the poor wages and working condition of the black mining laborers & the ref to soldiers. This song also functions as a time capsule. It's amazing that Juluka (Johnny Clegg & Sipho Mchunu) managed to find an international audience & tour abroad despite the hurdles they faced at home. They never gave up their music or South Africa. Amazing courageous musicians

• @CaylaCatz · Mar 12, 2026

  You were very lucky to be able to go to that theatre show. It sounded very cool. Also from what you said before about banned movies and watching them in a smaller theater but not larger ones; it sounds like the restrictions under apartheid varied very much depending where. My info is from wiki primarily but apparently they couldn't play in some venues or clubs so they'd play in people's homes and where they could. Even then some of their performances would get disrupted. Of their success, Wiki stated : "Juluka were able to tour internationally, playing in Europe, Canada, and the USA, and had two platinum and five gold albums, becoming an international success." This Johannesburg news article mentions his concerts being routinely broken up https://web.archive.org/web/20101109003643/https://mg.co.za/article/2010-11-07-white-father-of-african-rock-marks-anniversary/

• @DavidP · Mar 12, 2026

  I'm impressed that you knew of him. I knew they had some success internationally but have no idea the degree. --- I never enjoyed Savuka. I enjoyed the sound of Juluka far more. Maybe the loss of Mchunu was significant. I went to a couple of concerts and those were not disrupted in anyway. Though maybe in more conservative locations it could have happened. I know Clegg got arrested at times. --- towards the end of his life I went to show in a theatre where he spoke about his life, the music etc a bit like that Springsteen show. Was fabulous

• @DavidP · Mar 14, 2026

  I really enjoyed the half I watched last night before supper. So many memories. --- Back in those days South Africa had two official languages- Afrikaans and English. And in broad terms, those were two very different cultures etc. I could write a novel on this. And it was compulsary at school to pass both. Now we have 11. I took one year of Xhosa in high school but never got on well with it. Ended up choosing Latin instead for the rest of my high school years.

• @DavidP · Mar 13, 2026

  Not a genre per se, but the name of a concert tour. The three acts being Koos Kombuis, Bernoldus Niemand en die Swart Gevaar, and Johannes Kerkorrel en die Gereformeerde Blues Band. You have heard Hillbrow which was one of the songs. If you have some time you can watch this, though much of it is in Afrikaans. But there is a great selection of the music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQiPcwWCn9g or you can sample this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRTY91WItLc7e5617CvZflH0vaoeA6C-o

• @DavidP · Mar 13, 2026

  Fabulous anecdotal article. That is true. Like in all eras of such troubles there are those activists who offer protest through various media --- a few years later the protests would intensify as Afrikaans musicians moved from their traditions to embrace rock n roll and sing out against the regime. Again I was fortunate to have attended a Voelvry Concert.

• @DavidP · Mar 13, 2026

  Oh boy, the video is playing now. And they talk about Jameson's Bar and The Cherry Faced Lurchers. I loved that bar, saw that band and still enjoy the live album.

• @DavidP · Mar 14, 2026

  Well, my Latin would be beyond rusty 🤣 You pick up bits and pieces. Also Afrikaans was a deivative of Flemish, Dutch, German arising from the settlers who cam from Europe.

• @CaylaCatz · Mar 13, 2026

  Thank you. I'll give a listen to them later. I still have a couple more to finish up listening to on the Geography challenge. That's cool that listening to the concert bands brought back some memories for you. It sounds like you can speak multiple languages. That's cool.

• @CaylaCatz · Mar 14, 2026

  Wow! 11 languages! So you have 3. English, Afrikaan and Latin. I bet Latin gives you a whole host of languages: Spanish, French, Portuguese. Are there books now exploring the split cutlure back then or are people wanting to negotiate the current cutlures?

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