THE AFRICAN CONCERT GRACELAND

FILMED IN THE ZIMBABWE CAPITAL OF Harare, Graceland: The African Concert, which airs this month on Channel 13, is an exuberant, inspired production. The New York Times hailed the program as “a towering and memorable achievement,” with songs that are “incredibly appealing and infectious.”

Composer and singer Paul Simon headlines the legendary concert, singing “Boy in the Bubble,” “Under African Skies,” “I Know What I Know” and a host of other hit songs from his Grammy-winning “Graceland” album. Simon is joined by Ladysmith Black Mambazo, a South African a cappella group that performs two solos, “Nonathembia” and “Hello My Baby,” and by trumpeter Hugh Masekela and singer Miriam Makeba, both of whom are South African exiles.

Beyond the artistry and sheer joy of its music, Graceland: The African Concert evokes other meanings, as well. Paul Simon appears in this concert with South African musicians playing the music of South Africa. Their concert is performed in Zimbabwe, which borders South Africa and abolished its separation of races only a few years before. As performer Miriam Makeba tells the audience of 20,000 black and white fans, “I hope that someday we will be able to invite Paul Simon to Johannesburg in a free South Africa.”

In Graceland: The African Concert, Paul Simon brings the music and performers of South Africa to an audience of thousands in Zimbabwe, which abolished the separation of races only a few years ago. Gtaceland: The African Concert premieres on Channel 13 Wednesday, August 15, at 8:15 p.m. and is repeated Tuesday, August 21, at 9:40 p.m. and Wednesday, A ugust 22, at 1:10 p.m.