wicked-dreamer
did-not-listen
In 1987, Simon took Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo (all also on the list) to Zimbabwe where they played for 45,000 people. I guess I sort of remember the controversy, but Simon worked to showcase the black musicians of South Africa and to celebrate their music. It was a collaboration not a wholesale appropriation. I get not supporting the apartheid government but I have a hard time understanding how someone who earnestly sought out this music that caught his ear and then worked with the people who made the music to broaden the world’s knowledge and enjoyment of it could be doing a bad thing. The fact that he was a target of anti-apartheid groups kind of just boggles my mind. There is a joy to this music and its performance and the collaborative experience that went into making it. It is a great album. I think the love expressed by this music is just as important as any overtly political statement he could have made.