‘It was a damn unicorn’: the pioneering, divisive power of Paul Simon’s Graceland at 40 — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Graceland turned 40 this year, with Ashley Kahn's new book Days of Miracle and Wonder tracing the February 1985 Johannesburg sessions where Simon recorded with General MD Shirinda and the Gaza Sisters, Tao Ea Matsekha, and the Boyoyo Boys
- Paul Simon was censured by the UN's special committee against apartheid for violating the 1980 cultural boycott, though the decision was reversed months later after he wrote that he understood the ban targeted performing, not recording, and had no plans to perform there
- Harry Belafonte had urged Simon to coordinate with the African National Congress before the sessions, but Simon declined, telling Rolling Stone in 1986 that he believed 'the power of art trumped laws'
- Simon paid the South African musicians triple the daily rate of American union musicians, per Kahn, yet critics including a young Mark Batson at a Howard University Q&A and guitarist Ray Phiri — who helped build the title track — have continued pressing claims of cultural appropriation and songwriting-credit disputes
- Graceland entered the Billboard 200 at No. 94 in September 1986 and peaked at No. 3 the following April after Grammy wins; lead single You Can Call Me Al did not catch fire with pop radio until the spring after release, which Kahn called 'a damn unicorn'
- The album's rhythm-first process — Simon building melodies atop the groups' already-finished grooves, then flying Phiri, Bakithi Kumalo and Isaac Mtshali to New York for overdubs with input from David Byrne, Cyndi Lauper and Philip Glass — has shaped later artists from Vampire Weekend to Lorde, with Kahn likening the method to hip-hop: 'Start with the beat and match the words to the beat.'
Why it matters: Graceland's cross-pollinated sound — built from the rhythm up — has shaped artists from Vampire Weekend to Lorde and is cited as a parallel to hip-hop's beat-first production, giving Simon a lasting craft legacy. At the same time, the source notes the appropriation debate will 'never go away,' meaning future cross-cultural collaborations will continue to be measured against Simon's 1986 precedent of working during apartheid without coordinating with the African National Congress.
Ask SkimNews
