There's a track on here called Mbube. It is unmistakably the reason The Lion Sleeps Tonight exists and by extension one of the few low points in the Friends story arc.
Worthy of ridicule though those things are, it would be an unwarranted slur to slag this album. It is not something I would choose to put on to entertain myself but it is bursting with personality and authenticity. When Paul Simon was running out of ideas, he turned to the indigenous music of Africa to rekindle the flame of his creativity.
This woman had suffered a great deal - apartheid being the tip of the iceberg - before she died of a heart attack in 2008. She had a phenomenal voice; powerful but non-invasive Having read the briefest of synopses of her life, I can hear that voice carrying the weight of those experiences, expressing them and overcoming them.
I guess the difference between this and some other equally beleaguered performers is that she just doesn't sound as needy as they do. I'm glad to have heard this but it's not for me.
Interestingly, this features a version of House Of The Rising Sun, a song Joan Baez also included on her album. I'll take this over that any day of the week.
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Opinions are like arseholes. They're never wrong. But I'd rather you express one than be the other :-)