One of the songs I like most, and have enjoyed listening to for decades is the one by Paul Simon called You can call me Al from the album Graceland.
It is a structural fusion of African and Western music styles. Somewhat like a hybrid of American pop music and Mbaqanga (a native South African music). The South African music categories, Kwela and Mbube, accompanied by the bass guitar and conga drums combined with Paul Simon’s English lyrics to produce a highly rhythmic distinctive harmony that is very appealing.
In this piece of music (You can call me Al); Paul Simon put a lot of emphasis on rhythm instead of his characteristic guitar melody. The music started with a bass run, where the keyboards, drums, and the trumpet all crashed in simultaneously.
This song by paul Simon (You Can Call Me Al) contrast fittingly to Phil Collins' 1982 song called I don’t care anymore, a great song but one I don't really like. In this music Phil Collins opens with the drum and follows a simple melody, largely drum based. The hard dry beats of the drum gives this music a dark and gloomy effect.The tempo is slow and deliberative, and the loud angry lyrics add to the music’s a characteristic aggressive tone indicative of the singer, Phil Collins’ own mood underlying personal troubles at the time.
One of my fave Paul Simon classics too. Saw him perform hit after hit on a Youtube clip. The concert was in 1987 in Zimbabwe before the current madness. Back then there was lots of food, lots of Whites and lots of unity against Apartheid next door.
ReplyDelete