The headstrong artist would record where he wanted, with whomever he wanted, whenever he wanted. Determined to chase his muse, he resolved to venture to South Africa whether the politicians liked it or not. He sought the advice of Quincy Jones and Harry Belafonte, whose reputations as civil-rights activists rivaled their prodigious musical output. But Simon was far too excited to wait. Accompanied only by longtime engineer Roy Halee, Simon arrived in early February , less than a year after first hearing the music.
Instead of having a specific song in mind, Simon just wanted to play and see what happened. The tracks preceded the songs. We worked improvisationally.
While a group was playing in the studio I would sing melodies and words — anything that fit the scale they were playing in. With Simon as an active participant, they would engage in lengthy, unstructured jam sessions as a way to get to know one another, and potentially stumble across a usable idea for a song.
I know they thought we were both nuts. With a revolving cast of locally famous musicians from nearby Soweto, the jams continued. Simon, the consummate perfectionist, took the approach of letting go, leaning back and letting the spirit move him. In just under two weeks, he had the raw music for eight tracks from which he could tease out usable riffs and instrumental passages to manipulate at will. The technique was not unlike a modern hip-hop producer chopping pre-existing songs to create new beats.
The evils of apartheid could be felt in the recording studio. Simon went to great lengths to ensure that his South African musical colleagues were treated as equals throughout the sessions.
Moreover, he promised to share writing credits for any musical or lyrical input. When sessions were shifted to New York City and London, the maestro made sure his musicians flew first class, stayed at the top rate hotels, and dined in five-star restaurants.
So a session could go past dark. But once it gets past dark, the musicians have to figure out a way home. They are not allowed to be on the streets of Johannesburg after curfew. In a interview with NPR, he recalled a particularly distressing incident from an early recording date. During the evening they had chatted with fellow guest Pierre Boulez, the French composer and conductor. As Boulez prepared to make his exit, he tapped Simon on the shoulder. Simon found the faux pas extremely funny.
It was performed by Baghiti Khumalo on May 10th, — his birthday. The result is a musical palindrome with a one-measure descending phrase mirrored by the reversed ascending portion. It was enormously effective, and technically impossible to reproduce live exactly as heard on the record. Anything to make it sound more interesting. Graceland was originally due out in June , but Warner Brothers decided to push back the release until the end of August.
So when Simon reconvened with the Soweto rhythm section and Ladysmith Black Mambazo for an appearance on SNL that May, it seemed like a great excuse to get together in the studio. To the surprise and delight of the close-knit group, Simon joined them around the microphone to sing the delicate vocal takes. Why is he hiding himself in America? They began with an extended vocal tag in the traditional African mbube style. With her string of soulful hits, Linda Ronstadt hardly seems like a lightning rod for controversy.
The trouble stemmed from her six appearances at a South African luxury resort called Sun City in May Business Visionaries. Hot Property. Times Events. Times Store. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options.
By WM. I was so impressed that I inquired whether it would be possible to record with some of them. I found that I could. So he did just that — he got on a plane in February with recording engineer Roy Halee to Johannesburg.
It turned out that may have been the easy part. This was all happening during the Academic and Cultural Boycott , when the United Nations prohibited artists, academics, philosophers and other cultural influencers from participating in any activities or collaborations of any kind in the country because of the segregation policies of apartheid.
I knew I would be criticized if I went, even though I wasn't going to record for the government of Pretoria or to perform for segregated audiences — in fact, I had turned down Sun City [Resort, where concerts are played] twice. Still, he felt the draw to go — and reached out to others who knew more about the situation than he did. They both encouraged me to make the trip. Those who did so were accused of breaking a UN-approved cultural boycott, which had been in effect since December Appeals to writers, artists, musicians and other personalities to boycott South Africa.
Urges all academic and cultural institutions to terminate all links with South Africa. The resolution was enthusiastically endorsed by the Artists Against Apartheid movement, and offending musicians including Rod Stewart and Queen, who had been attracted by generous fees to play at Sun City, all promised not to return.
When I pressed him further, he suddenly came out with a quite remarkable outburst, explaining his view on music and politics. And to tell you the truth, I have a feeling that when there are radical transfers of power on either the left or the right, the artists always get screwed.
The result, predictably enough, was that the row rapidly escalated.
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