Jesse Clegg: ‘Msaki and I have a deep connection to songwriting’

Grief, loss and rebirth bondedJesse Cleggand his sonic palMsakiin creating their collaborative EPEntropy. The son of the late legendary Johnny Clegg offers Sowetan an inside look into the creative partnership that evolved into a visual storytelling project that is his most vulnerable yet. We met four years ago.

I was working on a project around some of my dad’s music and I’ve always admired Msaki for her socially conscious songwriting and her unique space in SA music. I cold-called her. I got her number from my friend, Sun-El Musician.

I told her: “I’m doing this project and I’d love to meet.” She said: “Let’s go to the studio tomorrow.” We hit it off immediately. At the time, we were both going through personal loss: I [just lost] my life partner to cancer, and she was going through a divorce. We were both single parents, navigating transitions.

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What were the defining emotions that shaped the EP? The EP feels very raw and vulnerable. We never intended to make a project together; we were writing songs to process our emotions.

Being vulnerable with someone you trust, especially when you can identify with the same type of pain or loss, shaped everything. There are also uplifting songs that reflect gratitude, hope and the possibility of new connections. The project was crafted across Cape Town, Joburg, Los Angeles, and New York.

How did these cities influence the music? It wasn’t intentional for that to happen. We were both travelling a lot for shows and writing trips and often happened to be in the same cities.

Different producers, musicians and songwriters in each city added unique textures and energy to the EP. It didn’t take three years to write six songs; however, it took that long to complete the project because we were both very busy. We worked in snatches of time, never rushed.

Each of the six songs has a music video that connects into a single storyline: a doomed love story. Four videos have been released episodically, and the full 25-minute short film will be out at the end of the month. The visuals mirror the emotional highs and lows of the album and give a deeper sense of the music’s themes.

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