{"id":1310,"date":"2020-03-01T22:28:03","date_gmt":"2020-03-01T22:28:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/?p=1310"},"modified":"2025-06-07T16:44:01","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T16:44:01","slug":"paul-simon-you-can-call-me-al-1986","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/?p=1310","title":{"rendered":"Paul Simon ~ You Can Call Me Al<\/em> (1986)"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”0px||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

Paul Simon ~ You Can Call Me Al<\/em> (1986)<\/h1>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Paul-Simon-on-stage-with-performers-in-Africa.jpg” _builder_version=”4.16″ box_shadow_style=”preset2″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”0px||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

Paul Simon withstood huge criticism <\/strong>from some quarters by virtue of opening up South African music to the world<\/strong> at the very time western countries were tightening anti-apartheid economic sanctions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

I believe hindsight confirms that he was on the right side of history in bringing the music of that country to a global audience\u00a0<\/strong>in his\u00a0Graceland<\/em> album. Simon makes no apologies for what he did<\/a> — and the world of music — indeed, the world itself — is all the better for it.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_5,3_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”0px||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

This clip is from a 1987 concert performance in neighboring Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/vimeo.com\/199148488″ image_src=”https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Paul-Simon-performing-in-Africa.jpg” thumbnail_overlay_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.6)” _builder_version=”4.16″ width=”76%” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_video][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paul Simon took a huge risk in putting music from South Africa on the map (during the last years of apartheid<\/em>) in his\u00a0“Graceland”<\/em>\u00a0album. We (as well as history) have been the better for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-popular-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.oganovic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Paul-Simon-on-stage-with-performers-in-Africa.jpg?fit=400%2C249&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1310"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3179,"href":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310\/revisions\/3179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.oganovic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}