Music Paul Simon Graceland Turns 25 Part Two The Cultural Impact

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Entertainment Featuring fresh takes and real-time analysis from HuffPost's signature lineup of contributors Michael Giltz Freelance writerGET UPDATES FROM MICHAEL GILTZ Follow Video , David Byrne , Jorge Ben , Paul Simon , Peter Gabriel , Graceland , Pop Music , World Music , Entertainment News 18 83 2 2React Inspiring Funny Hot Scary Outrageous Amazing Weird CrazyPaul Simon's Graceland Turns 25 -- Part Two: The Cultural Impact PAUL SIMON: GRACELAND 25TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE BOXED SET: $119.98 CD/DVD SET: $15.98 LP: $24.98MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOST 1 of 2 Was The Whole Donald Trump Announcement A Gigantic, Pointless Bust? Mourdock On Abortion: FOLLOW US Celebrity TV Political Hollywood Features Hollywood Buzz Videos This Might Be The Most Important Vote You'll Cast This YearOctober 25, 2012 Edition: U.S. Chip Davis Tavis Smiley James Franco Gov. Jennifer M. GranholmHOT ON THE BLOG HuffPost Social Reading Like 117 Posted: 06/09/2012 2:51 am SHARE THIS STORY Submit this storySPONSOR GENERATED POST Like 11kMovie Trailers Smarter Ideas iPhone app iPad app Android phone app Android tablet app More Log in Create AccountPaul Simon's album Graceland has turned 25 sounding better than ever. Its impact on music and culture is vast and any list of the best albums of all time looks silly if Graceland doesn't appear on it somewhere. The best-selling solo album for an artist who continues to produce great music, Graceland is a landmark, but not one that has grown dusty with Importance. It's not just a "significant" work with historical meaning; it's also an exhilarating collection of songs as timeless and current as ever. This is the second of a four-part series covering the boxed set, its cultural impact, the story of the boycott and the music itself. You can buy the album in any configuration from Paul Simon's website or any major outlet. Part One: The Boxed Set Review Part Two: The Cultural ImpactPart Three: The BoycottPart Four: The Album, Track By Track PART TWO: GRACELAND -- ITS CULTURAL IMPACT Graceland forever changed the game when it came to raising the visibility of world music. It made arguments about the "authenticity" of Western music that incorporated world music rhythms, instruments and sounds seem pointless and silly. And it helped to legitimize sampling once and for all even though it barely qualifies as an album that uses sampling in the way we mean that technique today. No work of art exists in a vacuum. Obviously, many artists in the West drew inspiration from other cultures just as musicians in other cultures drew inspiration from the West. The Talking Heads, theBeatles and countless others dipped into the well of "world music." Heck, Simon himself had been doingso throughout his career. Also, artists from around the world would occasionally break onto the US popcharts, usually as an "exotic" novelty playing "genuine" folk music or under more traditional terms, likeEdith Piaf, a French singer people could easily grasp. Record stores in major cities had world musicsections. People listened to the music but it often had an aura of nobleness or academia. Graceland changed all of that for good. The world music sections of record stores exploded in size. Artists who had always championed acts from around the world were able to redouble their efforts. Peter Gabriel and David Byrne launched record labels to do just that. If you were like me, once you becameobsessed with Graceland and the music on it, you wanted to hear more. I ran out and bought The Indestructible Beat Of Soweto, Vol. 1 , the first in a terrific series that is still an excellent introduction to the music of South Africa. It wasn't an education, however; it was fun. However raw or "exotic" therhythms or instrumentation may sound, this was pop music. What matters is not how "genuine" music isbut simply how good it is. Our ears would soon be opened to everything from Peruvian rock bands inspired by psychedelia to Bulgarian women's choirs that did indeed sound like a thousand year old tradition. Here's the second track on The Indestructible Beat Of Soweto, featuring Nelcy Seibe singing "Holotelani." The album had no liner notes to speak of so I had only the vaguest idea that she was singing a daughter- in-law's praise song for a wedding, celebrating the cattle being given as a dowry, the bridegroom enteringand the new in-laws that must be shown respect. Later I would learn this was a South African urban popstyle known as mbaqanga. Sure it had roots in traditional folk music but it also mixed in jazz, blues, r&bfrom the United States and more. The people performing with Simon weren't the hottest acts in South Pregnancy From Rape Is 'Something God Intended' WATCH: Vivica A. Fox SLAMS Stacey Dash's Romney Endorsement WATCH: U.N. Chief Dances Gangnam-Style Another Day In Polls, Still Neck-And-Neck Coulter Uses Slur Against Obama Allred Goes To Court Over Mitt Romney Divorce Testimony Special Olympics Athlete Writes Open Letter To Ann Coulter Over 'Retard' Remark Teen Suspect Arrested In Killing Of Jessica Ridgeway DON'T MISS HUFFPOST BLOGGERS 1 of 5 Chip Davis Halloween Is a Night Like No Other Tavis Smiley The Top 20 (Cause 10 Ain’t Enough) Reasons (Excuses) Black Folk Will Give if Obama Loses TOP VIDEO PICKS 1 of 9 MOST DISCUSSED RIGHT NOW 1 of 2Recommend 96k Like 1k Recommend 1k Like 245 Like 40k Recommend 2k Like 12k Recommend 938 Kristen Stewart's Leggy Jumpsuit Helen Hunt Faked Kidnapping WATCH: Vivica A. FoxAfrica at the time, really. Paul Simon had discovered a rich vein of music that had fallen a bit out of favor. According to Under African Skies, the documentary about the making of Graceland , many of the acts he worked with were passe in their country; most of the hot bands in South Africa were heavily into the funk music of George Clinton. All I knew for certain was that the entire compilation was compulsively listenable. People who accused Paul Simon of being a colonialist who crudely "stole" or perverted authentic music failed to understand that the artists he collaborated with were creating pop music themselves. Theirmusic was inspired by Motown and Stax and a thousand other strands of popular music. If you live inParis and don't speak English, why then of course Bob Dylan is world music to you. Byrne's label, LuakaBop, reportedly took special care with its album cover art to make certain it was as modern as possible.They didn't want the music they were presenting -- like Brazilian pop on the seminal compilation BrazilClassics 1: Beleza Tropical -- to be seen as musty or anthropological. This wasn't music for scholarly erudition -- or rather not just for scholarly erudition. It was music to dance to, like Jorge Ben's infectious "Umbabarauma." Try not to move while hearing this. So the album covers Luaka Bop created were sexy and fun. Just like the music. When these artists were interviewed, their diverse range of influences made a mockery of the idea of purity. This growingawareness of music's journey around the world, how musical ideas leapfrogged from Africa to Cuba toNew Orleans to New York to Paris and on and on freed up fans the way artists had always been free, tolisten with open ears to anything from anywhere and not be worried about taking ideas and soundsanywhere it could be found. Vampire Weekend? College preppies who took inspiration from the rhythmsand sound of Soweto township jive? Why not? While the documentary film's claim Simon launched hip-hop and sampling is far-fetched, he was an important influence. Simon was sampling the hard way. When he heard a track he liked, he didn't digitally sample it and manipulate the music to create something new. He invited the artist into the studio to perform that track again and rework and refashion it into something wholly new. Graceland contains more songwriting credits for other artists than any other album in Simon's career. It was a true collaboration and not "sampling" in the sense we understand it today. But it did help to legitimize it artistically. No one could deny the brilliance of the music or the fact that it wasunquestionably a Paul Simon album with Paul Simon songs. That voice and those lyrics are inimitable.But his approach to songwriting was radically new for Simon. He began with the rhythm and musicaltrack and then wrote the lyrics later, often reshaping the tune along the way. It would define his approachto music for the next two decades. Was he "cheating?" On Rhythm of the Saints , the opening track "The Obvious Child" begins with thunderous drumming Simon heard and recorded on the streets while traveling through Central and South America. He didn't write that drum pattern and the people who were jamming don't getsongwriting credit, though they are credited as musicians on the album and did get financial recompense. Let's remember what a radically new idea this was for recorded popular music. Simon heard something, recorded it, fiddled and expanded it and made the result the very tiny kernel of a song only he could have created. He credited the musicians and paid them. But can you "steal" a drum sound you hear on the streets or sample it from an old album and loop it and claim to have created something new? Yes, ofcourse you can. And before recorded music that's exactly how "authentic" folk music worked. Peopleheard a song and learned it and maybe fiddled with the lyrics or melody and then passed it down tosomeone else. The good bits survived and the boring bits fell by the wayside. Sampling isn't inherently artistic of course anymore than recording an original song guarantees a good tune. Sometimes it's lame and reductive and depends too much on the original track. Sometimes it'sHOT ON FACEBOOK 1 of 3 HUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES Katy Perry Spirit Video Barack Obama 2012 Business Arrested Development San Francisco Giants Abortion John McCain Buy a link here Sponsored Links "Strange Bean Burns Fat" Celebrity Doctor proclaims this strange bean magic for weight loss. www.iconsumerknowledge.org Man Cheats Credit Score 1 simple trick & my credit score jumped 217pts. Banks scream, Oh NO! thecreditsolutionprogram.com Weird Loophole in New York Long Island City - New trick helps drivers getcar insurance for as low as $9… FinanceDigestToday.com MORE BIG NEWS PAGES » SLAMS Stacey Dash's Romney Endorsement Adele's 'Skyfall' Made Daniel Craig Cry Snoop Dogg Explains Why He's Voting For Obama Lindsay Lohan's Incredible Debate Tweets FOLLOW ENTERTAINMENTbrilliant and fresh. But it's definitely art and as long as sources are acknowledged and properly rewarded when necessary it's all good. Bitter court battles have determined what is legal and how much this or thatartist deserves to get paid. But artistically, the idea of "stealing" someone's music by going into a studioand collaborating with them the way Simon did now seems absurd. The idea of "pure" music existingsomewhere in the world when we can hear the cross-currents from culture to culture seems absurd, tomusicians most of all. Many artists paved the way, many world music acts toured and became famous long before 1986. But Graceland took world music to another level, turning some of the acts on the album into international superstars, expanding everyone's appreciation for world music, establishing once and for all that music is music, demonstrating anyone can dip into the stream and draw out whatever they need for artistic inspiration, and proving that sampling is just another way of building on what's come before. Here's Paul Simon's playful video for "You Can Call Me Al," the closest Graceland came to a hit in the US. It originally peaked at #44 in 1986, but was rereleased in early 1987 and went all the way to...#23. Ultimately Graceland sold five million copies in the United States thanks to touring, constant media attention and word of mouth. Part One: The Boxed Set Review Tomorrow: Graceland -- The Boycott Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinion makers as guests. It's available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog. Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and alsoavailable for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and reviews. Note : Michael Giltz was provided with a free copy of the deluxe boxed set with the understanding that he would be writing a review. Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz Buy a link here Sponsored Links "Strange Bean Burns Fat" Celebrity Doctor proclaims this strange bean magic for weight loss. www.iconsumerknowledge.org Man Cheats Credit Score 1 simple trick & my credit score jumped 217 pts. Banks scream, Oh NO! thecreditsolutionprogram.com Weird Loophole in New York Long Island City - New trick helps drivers get car insurance for as low as $9… FinanceDigestToday.com Frenzy Over New Diet Pill Stores Across U.S. Sold Out of This New ’Miracle’ Weight Loss Pill. www.HLifestyles.com More in Entertainment... Like 78k GET ALERTSThis user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program Vivica A. Fox Rips Stacey Dash's Romney... Lindsay Lohan & The Debate: Actress Live- Tweets... 'Red' Sales: Taylor Swift Could Top 1... 'Iron Man 3' Trailer: Some Thoughts On... 10:58 PM on 06/09/2012 One of the finest recordings ever made but if you pay $120 for it I will personally come to your house and slap you silly. 12:03 PM on 06/10/2012 What if that includes Paul Simon personally coming to your home and doing a 30 minuteconcert as well? Essentially, I agree which is why in my review I recommend the CD/DVDcombo, which you can find for $15. The most I ever paid for a concert ticket was to see Simon & Garfunkel at Madison Square Garden, great seats for $260 and they were still in great voice and I don't regret a penny of it. (Though high ticket prices are exactly why I skipmost big acts at that level.) Advertise | Log In | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Careers | FAQ User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | About Our Ads | Contact Us Copyright © 2012 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | "The Huffington Post" is a registered trademark of TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. All rights reserved. Part of AOL-HuffPost EntertainmentRecency | Popularity NHBill Permalink | Share it HUFFPOST BLOGGER Michael Giltz freelance writer Permalink | Share itComments 2 Pending Comments 0 View FAQ Comments are closed for this entry View All 707 Fans 132 Fans

Music Paul Simon Graceland Turns 25 Part Two The Cultural Impact

📄 Music Paul Simon Graceland Turns 25 Part Two The Cultural Impact

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