Comportamiento sexual de riesgo en el adolescente

In a 1989 reflection on the impact of Graceland, Charles Hamm argued that the mountains of commentary that met the release of the album were ‘largely innocent of historical perspective’.506 In many ways, the passing years have only reinforced this statement, with the album’s continued success and popularity further blurring and obscuring the heated debates of 1986 and 1987. Throughout the years that followed, press features about Simon have seemingly vindicated Simon’s actions and talked up as ‘vindicated advertisement for black South African culture’.507

A fairly typical article, from the November 2000 issue of the British monthly music magazine Mojo, a magazine marketed towards middle aged and older aficionados, defended Graceland on the lines that;

the swift removal of Simon from the UN blacklist and the gratitude of the musicians themselves (it sold over 4 million copies) seems to have absolved

504 _{Jake Holmes and D. Zuma, ‘Amandla’, Paradise in Gazankulu, Harry Belafonte (EMI,CDP-7-}

46971-2, 1988) [LP Album].

505 _{Jake Holmes and Alistair Coakley, ‘Global Carnival ’, Paradise in Gazankulu, Harry Belafonte}

(EMI, CDP-7-46971-2, 1988) [LP Album].

506 _{Hamm, ‘Graceland Revisited’, p.299.}

507 _{Chris Ingham, ‘Paul Simon: Life after The Capeman’, MOJO, November 2000, <}

http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/paul-simon-life-after-ithe-capemani (25 September 2015).

him of any ethical wrongdoing. The music itself is virtually beyond reproach.508

That the ‘swift removal of Simon from the UN blacklist’ was considered such an important mitigating factor in Simon’s favour, speaks volumes about the way in which the debate about Graceland has become ever more divorced from any meaningful historical context. The removal of Simon from the blacklist had been a largely controversial measure, with the AAM and AAA incensed that Simon had been allowed to get away on what they saw as a technicality. Furthermore, the assertion of the importance of the ‘gratitude of the musicians themselves’, is also somewhat problematic. First, this is somewhat of an asinine statement, what

musician would not be grateful of a share of the royalties from an album which had sold so many copies. Secondly and more importantly though, there is the question of what real impact was made on the lives of the musicians who participated. Hamm has argued that in effect, Graceland did little more than increase the bank balances of those who had already enjoyed a great deal of success inside South Africa.509 More importantly though, the success of the album in South Africa, was even touted by some as a vindication of apartheid and ‘constructive

engagement’.510

This uncritical whitewashing of Graceland peaked with the commentary which surrounded the ‘25th

anniversary’ re-master and reissue of the album in 2012. Particularly bizarre were the new liner notes which accompanied the re-issue by the journalist Jesse Kornbluth, which went as far as suggesting that breaking the boycott was a ‘brave decision’ on the part of Simon.511

Even more telling is the documentary Under African Skies, which accompanied the reissue of the album,

508 _{Ingham, ‘Paul Simon: Life after The Capeman’.} 509 _{Hamm, ‘Graceland Revisited’, p.302.}

510

Ibid.

which seeks to further validate Simon’s actions. Framed by a conversation between Simon and Dali Tambo and punctuated by supportive interviews from African American celebrities such as Quincy Jones, Oprah Winfrey and Harry Belafonte,

Under African Skies does much to suggest that any controversy was justified in the name of the artistic merits of Graceland. Interestingly Steve Van Zandt, who remains highly critical of Simon, withdrew his contribution to the documentary because the director had “edited the hell out of it to some little statement where I’m saying something positive about Paul”.512 More than anything else this

demonstrates the immense efforts that have been deployed to further divorce

Graceland, from any critical commentary. Furthermore as Van Zandt has argued the final apology from Simon to Dali Tambo, that Simon was “sorry if I made it inconvenient for you.” perfectly encapsulates the sincere belief of Simon that his actions were completely justified.

In many ways Graceland and its legacy represents something of a weather vane for the way in which the cultural campaign against apartheid was to develop and grow in the decades following. The album’s emphasis on the commonality of experience between listeners, regardless of whether they were American, British or South African and celebration of the coming together of cultural forms and

identities can be seen reflected in much of the discourse about post-apartheid South Africa. This is a vision which is distinctly non-political, emphasising the primacy of art over politics. In one of the final scenes for Under African Skies, Simon expresses pride in being ‘personally invited’ by Nelson Mandela to tour South Africa.513 In many ways this footage of Simon shaking hands with a man he had previously believed to be a ‘communist’, shows the way in which Graceland fitted

512 _{Jacobs ‘When Steven Van Zandt convinced AZAPO to take Paul Simon off a hit list and what}

Paul Simon really thought of Nelson Mandela’.

comfortably into a post-apartheid narrative of reconstruction, with Mandela as an omnipresent liberal superhero.

4) “Today Brent South, Tomorrow