One of my all-time favorite albums, Paul Simon’s “Graceland“, will turn 25 this year.
This is the one album that changed my life. At the time it was released, I had pretty much lost all interest in music, but when I heard it for the first time, it was like what I’ve been waiting my entire life to hear. I wasn’t a big Paul Simon fan, and before “Graceland”, I never knowingly heard African music.
“Graceland” got me interested in African music and inspired me to seek out more of it. After listening to it for a few months, I took the huge step of going to the “International” aisle at the record store and buying a cassette by Ladysmith Black Mambazo. I found that I loved the music and started looking for even more exotic sounds.
Around the same time, Peter Gabriel started collaborating with Youssou N’dour, so I took another big step and bought Youssou’s album “Nelson Mandela”, and by that time I was totally hooked.
If it wasn’t for “Graceland” I might have never discovered African music and reignited my love of all music.