Always on a Sunday: Under African Skies

Two things I especially like about Joe Berlinger's 2012 documentary, Under African Skies, about Paul Simon's return to South Africa last year for a 25-year reunion concert with the musicians who participated in his 1986 "Graceland" album: the faces and the music.
    The faces, such as those of African jazz musician Ray Phiri and Joseph Shabalala, founding member of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and all of the faces of Ladysmith, are glorious, then and now, in their musically transported loveliness.
And Simon's face, too, both of a dark-haired man of forty-four in 1985 and as a white-haired elder today, is deep with compassion and fellow-feeling. Watching all of these faces made me glow.

    And the music of all of these musicians, not least that of musical genius Paul Simon—you have to listen....

No, three things I especially like about Under African Skies: The third is the touching rapprochement of Paul Simon and Dali Tambo, the son of anti-apartheid activists Oliver Tambo (1917-1993) and Adelaide "Mama" Tambo (1929-2007). Oliver was a central figure in the African National Congress, which at the time of Simon's trip to South Africa was attempting to enforce the United Nations' strict cultural boycott to put pressure on the white government of South Africa.
    Simon didn't ask anyone's permission to ignore the boycott, including the ANC's, which wouldn't have given it. The ANC at the time regarded the Graceland enterprise with some rancor. The documentary presents Simon's motives for the trip (roughly, an unshakable belief in the transcendence of art) and the reasons for the ANC's condemnation of the trip.
    I highly recommend this entertaining and historically informative film. I borrowed the DVD from our local library.