"Dela" is the fourth song from the 1989 album '' Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World'' by South African band

Savuka Savuka, occasionally referred to as Johnny Clegg & Savuka, was a multi-racial South African band formed in 1986 by Johnny Clegg after the disbanding of Juluka. Savuka's music blended traditional Zulu musical influences with Celtic music and ro ...

. It is a "straightforward love song", featuring

Johnny Clegg Jonathan Paul Clegg, (7 June 195316 July 2019) was a South African musician, singer-songwriter, dancer, anthropologist and anti-apartheid activist, some of whose work was in musicology focused on the music of indigenous South African people ...

singing of waiting for his love, and of being content in their presence. An

uptempo A variety of musical terms are likely to be encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special mus ...

song with lyrics in both English and Zulu, it was played commonly at wedding receptions. Discussing the song in an interview with

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

, Clegg stated: "It's about wholeness. Dela in Zulu means - to dela means to be complete and satisfied." Clegg often ended concerts with ''Dela''. It was used in the 1997 movie ''

George of the Jungle ''George of the Jungle'' is an American animated television series produced and created by Jay Ward and Bill Scott, who also created ''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show''. The character George was inspired by the story of Tarzan and a cartoon char ...

'', and has been described as Clegg's best-known song among western audiences.

References

{{authority control 1989 songs Savuka songs