Under African Skies

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Audience Member man i heard this paul simon south africa mamboza boyboyo boys etc graceland music so many times and still just love it...every dern time Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member I'm not a huge fan of "Graceland". I like the album well enough, but I have never thought of it as a masterpiece. I came out of this documentary liking it more than I had going in, which is one of the best things a documentary like this could hope for. What's most interesting is the discussion over Simon's breaking of the boycott on working with South African musicians during the Apartheid years. I think Simon comes off as someone who was right when it comes to the details, but dreadfully wrong about the big picture. He comes off as well-meaning, but totally clueless and self-centered ... never really grasping that people disagreed with him at the time because far bigger issues than his little album were at play. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member this is a terrific exposition of the artist trying and succeeding to battle the politicians. the great musicians of africa and paul simon combined to make great music and the dvd tells what kind of bullshit they had to endure. thanks paul and the bands. it makes me want to take another trip to africa. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Audience Member I just watched this, brilliant insight to this classic album :) Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review Audience Member I have to admit. This album means a lot to me. It came out just before I went to live for 6 1/2 years in Lesotho, a country completely surrounded by South Africa. So I have a strong bias. But I think it covered the history and controversy surrounding the album well. It was interesting seeing all of this with 25 years of hindsight. I do wish, though, they had more of the live performances though. It seemed we mostly just got little bits and pieces. But still definitely a movie worth seeing if you're interested in Paul Simon, apartheid South Africa, and/or African or world music! Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Audience Member The music has held up well enough that it's easy to forget how controversial this album was at the time. "Under African Skies" recalls the story of how the album came to be, and catches up with the musicians who performed the music. The key scenes in the film are built around a dialog / friendly debate between Simon and anti-apartheid activist Dali Thambo. A quarter-century later, Thambo was still critical of Simon's decision to travel to South Africa in defiance of the so-called "cultural boycott," while Simon deferentially but thoroughly parries Thambo's critique. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Under African Skies

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