Critical Review 9

Subject: “Paul Simon’s Graceland, South Africa, and the Mediation of Musical Meaning,” by Louise Meintjes

Meintjes’ essay is about Paul Simon’s Graceland, an album released in 1986 which represents a collaborative effort between Simon and artists from the U.S. and South Africa. Meintjes shows how components of the music are regional styles inseparable from their political and cultural roots. As a coherent work, Graceland embodies the notion of collaboration in both its eclectic musical modes and in the process of its creation. Collaboration pervades the album, extending beyond the integrated musical styles to the integration of languages, in particular Zulu and English. The centrality of collaboration in the album makes Graceland polysemic, lending it many possible interpretations. It takes on different semiotic connotations for each listener depending on the listener’s sociopolitical and cultural background.

How is a collaborative musical work viewed as a sociopolitical sign similar to a musical ethnography? What differentiates them?