Shayne Robinson’s daily vlog: The one and only Johnny Clegg
There have not been many times in my 15-year career as a journalist that I have been truly excited to meet someone. Nelson Mandela would obviously sit at the top of that list, but other than that I am fairly composed as meeting and interviewing famous people is part of what I do.
On Tuesday morning I received a message from Melanie Walker that she would be interviewing South African music legend Johnny Clegg, and she asked if I would like to sit in on the interview. Obviously, I accepted the offer, while quietly dancing around my office. I grew up on Clegg’s music and it shaped the person I am today.
This is a hectic week for me, I am still broken after taking part in the 48-hour Film Project this weekend past, I am on deadline for City Buzz, I am moving house and I still have two vlogs to put out. Needless to say, I drop everything, throw on something relatively clean and rush to the Radio Today studios in Rosebank.
Of course, I am late and arrive about two minutes before Clegg is supposed to start. I rush into the studio looking like a madman, talking to myself as I record the chaos for my vlog, and there he is, calm and collected with a big smile on his face. I reach out and shake his hand, I am trying really hard not to be a fanboy, but I am failing miserably.
I sit in silence for the next few minutes as I wait for Melanie Walker to usher us into the studio for the interview. I am holding back all sorts of questions that I would love to ask him, but this is not my interview. I am also aware of the fact that I would most probably blather them all out at the same time, making me look even weirder than I do already.
Finally, Walker comes out and offers both of us great big hugs and the tension is broken. We both smile and follow her into the studio. The next 17 minutes and 41 seconds are amazing. I sit there and listen to Clegg’s stories. Even though I have heard many of them before, it is different this time because he is telling them himself. Clegg talks about performing in the Apartheid days and how hard it was, both in South Africa and internationally.
As I watch him and listen to him talking, I remember how Clegg was an inspiration to the youth of this country. For many of us, he was an escape into a world where everything would be ok, he was a role model for what South Africa could be. We owe him a huge debt of gratitude for standing up for all of us when none of us had a voice.
And then, just like that, it is over. We scramble to take a photo with him, he thanks us all and then he is gone. I may not have been able to do my own interview, but I am happy that I was able to sit in on the interview and will remember this moment fondly when I listen to his music in the future.
