Still amazing after all these years

Bill Nutt

Twenty years ago, Paul Simon released the album that revitalized his career and almost single-handedly introduced a genre of music to America.Before "Graceland" hit stores in September of 1986, African music had little direct impact on pop charts. True, you could trace the blues to African rhythms. And sure, Great-Aunt Lillie used to call rock 'n' roll "jungle music" in the 1950s

Hugh Masekela of South Africa scored in 1968 with "Grazing in the Grass," but that owed more of a jazz cut. "Soul Makosa" by Manu Dibango was another infectious instrumental that got some airplay.

The first true collaborations between rockers and African musicians came in 1975; Joni Mitchell's song "The Jungle Line" featured drummers from Burundi. In the early 1980s, Peter Gabriel and Talking Heads garnered attention by incorporating African polyrhythmic percussion in their work. (Gabriel also decried South Africa's vicious apartheid system with the powerful "Biko.")

Around the same time, King Sunny Ade -- a fixture of the South African pop scene -- signed to Island Records, the same label that brought Bob Marley and reggae to American shores. Ade's recordings (including a number with Stevie Wonder on harmonica) helped raise the profile of African music.

The star-studded benefit songs "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and "We Are the World," followed by the Live Aid and Amnesty International concerts, helped ratchet American awareness of Africa even more.

But it took Paul Simon's foray to South African to bring that continent's culture into the forefront. Not long after "Graceland" was released, you started hearing more about African music. That interest expanded to embrace other so-called "Third World" music, such as performers in the Hispanic and Middle Eastern traditions. You could make the argument that the genre known as "world beat" or "world music" would not have made as deep an impression if it weren't for "Graceland."

In terms of Simon himself, "Graceland" jump-started a career that had been languishing. After the wild success of his early success -- first with Art Garfunkel and then on his first three solo albums -- Simon found himself in a rut. His 1984 album "Hearts and Bones" received critical praise (for the intelligence of his lyrics, if nothing else) but made little impression with the public. Until "Graceland," his reunion with Art Garfunkel had been his biggest success since "Still Crazy After All These Years."

"Graceland" reminded listeners that Simon had always been intrigued by exotic sounds. Think of the use of reggae in "Mother and Child Reunion" or the South American wind instruments in "El Condor Pasa" and "Duncan," and you realize it's not such a stretch to have Simon working with South African musicians, such as the vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo or the guitarist Ray Phiri.

Two decades after their release, those songs still astonish. You can't deny the irresistible horn section in "You Can Call Me Al," the melancholic keening of "Homeless" or the indestructible beat of "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes." The sound and the implicit message of musical brotherhood are as fresh as ever.

Even today, Paul Simon's amazing "Graceland" shines like a National guitar.