Simon & Garfunkel are on the telly

[G-Man]

Simon's inability to comprehend why people were upset at him breaking the boycott of South Africa remains an amazing piece of narcissism. He seems also to be a case study of cultural appropriation.

Many South Africans of impeccable struggle credentials take the opposite view: Simon gave black South African artists a showcase, and they thought he did it respectfully. I mean, if Hugh Masekela, a struggle icon in his own right, deemed it fit to play on Graceland and later tour with Simon, it's difficult to regard Simon as a traitor to the struggle.

The boycott was aimed more at acts playing in SA, thereby legitimising the regime. It was not aimed to cut off black musicians from the world or force them to go into exile.

The Art of Noise was also welcome to feature the Mahlathini and The Mahotella Queens, with "Yebo", which came out while the boycott was still in force.

You want to see a case study of cultural appropriation, take Malcolm McLaren's "Double Dutch" and "Buffalo Gals". Or, obviously, "Mbube" and "Tom Hark", though those are more cases of theft than cultural appropriation (of course, "Double Dutch" was stolen as well).

[Hot Pepsi]

This was always my understanding. He brought a lot of black African musicians to the attention of US audiences. Peter Gabriel did that too, perhaps even more effectively, or so I’m told.

Certainly, I never would have heard of Ladysmith Black Mambazo or heard anything like that if not for Paul Simon. They would not have been on US TV. It helped draw attention to Apartheid, as I recall, but maybe not as much as it should have.

That’s just how the record business works. Or at least, it did in the 80s.

I recall that he said he heard some South African music and thought it sounded a bit like 50’s R&B and he thought he could make some interesting harmonies with that. I suppose it kind of does sound like that. Convergence.