Graceland

12 August 1986: Number 42 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of world and folk musicUntil he travelled to apartheid-era South Africa in February 1985, Paul Simon seemed an unlikely candidate for political controversy. He had heard a cassette of local musicians, and wanted to record some of them for his Graceland project, in which black South African styles provide a backdrop for his songs. Released in August 1986, Graceland was a commercial and artistic triumph, which won a Grammy...

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