优雅庄园 (1986)

Graceland is the seventh solo studio album by the American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. It was produced by Simon, engineered by Roy Halee, and released on August 25, 1986, by Warner Bros. Records. It incorporates multiple genres, including pop, rock, a cappella, zydeco, and South African styles such as isicathamiya and mbaqanga.

In the early 1980s, Simon's relationship with his former musical partner Art Garfunkel had deteriorated, his marriage to the actress Carrie Fisher had collapsed, and his previous record, Hearts and Bones (1983), had been a commercial failure. In 1984, after a period of depression, Simon became fascinated by a bootleg cassette of mbaqanga, South African street music. He and Halee spent two weeks in Johannesburg recording with South African musicians. Further recordings were held in the US with American musicians, including Linda Ronstadt, the Everly Brothers, Rockin' Dopsie and the Twisters, and Los Lobos. Simon toured with South African musicians, performing their music and songs from Graceland.

Graceland became Simon's most successful album and his highest-charting album in over a decade, with estimated sales of more than 16 million copies worldwide. It won the 1987 Grammy for Album of the Year and is frequently cited as one of the best albums in history. In 2006, it was added to the US National Recording Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important".

Organizations such as Artists United Against Apartheid criticized Simon for breaking the cultural boycott on South Africa imposed for its policy of apartheid, while others accused him of appropriating the music of another culture. Simon responded that Graceland was a political statement that showcased collaboration between black and white people and raised international awareness of apartheid. Some praised him for helping popularize African music in the West.

Background

Following a series of hit records released in the 1970s, Simon's career declined. His relationship with his former musical partner Art Garfunkel had again deteriorated; his sixth solo studio album, Hearts and Bones (1983), achieved the lowest sales of his career; and his marriage to the actress Carrie Fisher collapsed. He recalled: "I had a personal blow, a career setback, and the combination of the two put me into a tailspin".

In 1984, Simon agreed to produce an album by the Norwegian multi-instrumentalist Heidi Berg, who had played in the house band for Saturday Night Live and been the bandleader for the short-lived TV series The New Show. Berg was drawn to the cheerful accordion sound in mbaqanga, the Black African street music from Johannesburg's Soweto township, and wanted to fuse Western and African music. Without hearing the music, Simon advised Berg to travel to South Africa and contact local musicians. Berg had been inspired by a bootleg cassette mixtape of obscure South African songs, and lent the cassette to Simon. Berg stipulated that Simon return the tape in a week, as it was a continual source of ideas for her, but Simon kept it. He first listened to it on a drive to Montauk, New York, where he was having a summer home built. He called the tape "very good summer music, happy music" that reminded him of 1950s rhythm and blues. He began improvising melodies over it as he listened in his car, and decided to use it to make his own album.

Simon asked his contacts at his label, Warner, to identify the artists on the tape. Through the South African record producer Hilton Rosenthal, Warner confirmed that the music was South African and played by the Boyoyo Boys. Simon considered buying the rights to his favorite song on the tape, "Gumboots", and using it to write his own song, as he had with the song "El Condor Pasa" in the 1960s. Instead, Rosenthal suggested that Simon record an album of South African music, and sent him dozens of records from South African artists.

In the 1980s, recording in South Africa was dangerous, and the United Nations had imposed a cultural boycott for its policy of apartheid, or forced racial segregation. The boycott forced states to "prevent all cultural, academic, sporting and other exchanges" with South Africa, and ordered writers, artists, musicians and "other personalities" to boycott it. Simon later told The New York Times: "I knew I would be criticized if I went, even though I wasn't going to record for the government ... or to perform for segregated audiences. I was following my musical instincts in wanting to work with people whose music I greatly admired."