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Ethan Zuckerman:
"I'm not writing about Graceland because I wanted to write music criticism - I'm thinking about Graceland as a way of explaining xenophilia and bridge figures. My friend David Miller and I were talking about these ideas and the challenge of explaining them, and David asked whether Simon’s work on the album helps explain either concept. In a sense, I think Graceland offers examples of both.
...
Whatever the validity of the different criticisms, they're a reminder of how difficult it is to build projects that cross cultures. Simon found himself navigating cultural concerns in his home country (cultural appropriation and tourism, violation of a boycott), in South Africa (exploitation of local musicians, sharing of songwriting credit) and in the countries where the group played. In the process, I suspect he and everyone else involved ended up creating a miniculture around their collective, joint project."
Ethan's astonishingly good at this kind of writing, and it doesn't hurt that Graceland has always been a quiet favorite of mine.
Originally from ...My heart's in Accra by reBlogged to