Paul Simon - Graceland
- FaceOff - עימות חזיתי
- 2 hours ago
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Written By: Moti Kupfer
Release date - 25.08.1986
When Paul Simon did his Idan Raichel!
Well, perhaps I am reversing the roles a little. Apart from Raichel and Simon's shared attraction to music and musicians from Africa, there is not all that much similarity between them. But once again, as in the case of Eric Clapton, it was proven that periods of personal and professional crisis can sometimes produce singular, transformative works. Such was the case with Paul Simon's seventh solo studio album, "Graceland", released on August 25, 1986.
"Simon & Garfunkel" began their musical journey in the late 1950s. Over the years, the hugely successful folk-rock duo experienced repeated ups and downs in their relationship, resulting in several separations and reunions.
At the beginning of the 1980s, the duo planned another comeback. Their reunion included the enormously successful Concert in Central Park in 1981, followed by an international tour that even brought them to Israel in 1983. But just when things seemed to be falling back into place onstage, the recording studio reopened old wounds. Material that had been intended as a "Simon & Garfunkel" album eventually became Simon's "Hearts and Bones", with Art Garfunkel's recorded vocals erased from the masters. At around the same period, Simon's turbulent relationship with Carrie Fisher was also falling apart.
The commercial failure of "Hearts and Bones" left Simon's career looking as though it were heading nowhere. Then, almost by accident, he encountered a bootleg cassette of South African township music, particularly the infectious accordion-driven sound associated with mbaqanga and township jive. Simon later recalled that the entire project essentially began by accident after a friend gave him a tape of South African street music.
With his career struggling, Simon decided to search for new musical territory. He traveled to Johannesburg in 1985 to explore the sounds that had captured his imagination. There he entered the studio with a group of extraordinarily talented local musicians, searching together for a common language through music. Those sessions became the foundation of "Graceland", an album that would become one of the most important and commercially successful records in bringing what would increasingly be marketed as "world music" into the heart of the Western mainstream.
It is important to point out, however, that Simon was not the first major Western artist to open that door. As early as 1982, Peter Gabriel immersed himself in music from Africa and other non-Western cultures on his fourth solo album, while that same year he was one of the driving forces behind the creation of WOMAD, conceived as a platform through which Western audiences could encounter musicians and traditions from around the world.
What "Graceland" did was take that connection a significant step further. This was an entire album built to a large extent around Simon's direct collaboration with South African musicians and musical styles, and it transformed that encounter into an enormous worldwide success.
Traveling to South Africa and recording an album that connected different musical worlds might have looked, from the outside, like a convenient way to restart a fading career. Many critics certainly saw it that way. But there was nothing convenient about traveling to a country isolated by an international cultural boycott because of its apartheid regime, particularly when you were Paul Simon, one of the most prominent Jewish musicians in American popular music.
Simon knew the trip would generate criticism, but insisted that he was going there to work with musicians, not with the South African government or to perform for segregated audiences. His decision nevertheless placed him at the center of a fierce political and ethical controversy, with anti-apartheid organizations arguing that simply entering South Africa to record violated the spirit, and according to some interpretations the terms, of the cultural boycott.
As noted, Simon refused to be distracted by the controversy surrounding him. He had discovered an entirely new musical world and was determined to bring the African sounds that had fascinated him to a much wider audience. On "Graceland", Simon combined the American folk and pop traditions he knew so well with rhythms and musical ideas drawn largely from South Africa.
Western and African musicians and instruments coexist throughout the album. Contributors included Adrian Belew, "The Everly Brothers", and numerous South African musicians, while the music moves freely between pop, rock, a cappella, mbaqanga, zydeco and other styles. Simon's lyrics deal with journeys across America and the wider world, love, aging, pain, self-discovery and introspection, all filtered through the wit, wordplay and understated humor that had long characterized his songwriting.
Commercially, Simon's gamble paid off spectacularly. The songs received extensive radio exposure and "Graceland" became the biggest-selling album of his solo career. Yet the success did little to silence the criticism. Simon was attacked for defying the international cultural boycott of apartheid-era South Africa, both by activists abroad and by some voices connected to the anti-apartheid struggle itself. Organizations including Artists United Against Apartheid criticized his decision, and accusations that he had undermined the boycott would follow the project for years.
Viewed from the perspective of four decades later, "Graceland" had a double effect. It spectacularly revived Simon's own career, but it also introduced millions of listeners to South African music and significantly expanded the international audience for African artists. Musicians such as Miriam Makeba and "Ladysmith Black Mambazo" reached audiences far beyond those who had previously encountered their work, with the latter in particular experiencing a major international breakthrough following their involvement with Simon.
"Graceland" is estimated to have sold more than 16 million copies worldwide. It won Album of the Year at the 1987 Grammy Awards and subsequently established itself as one of the most acclaimed and influential albums in popular music history. In 2006, it was selected for the Library of Congress National Recording Registry, which preserves recordings considered culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.
The album cover features a late 15th-century Ethiopian Christian image depicting Saint George. The artwork came from the collection of what is now the Peabody Essex Museum and provides "Graceland" with another visual connection to the African continent, although one geographically and culturally far removed from the South African music at the heart of the album.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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