Paul Simon, 80 years for the little big man - Lifestyle

 At 80, on October 13, Paul Simon arrives with the prestige and energy of a little big man. In 2018 he officially retired from music and public life, to devote himself to his family, after a farewell tour. But it was back in public in July 2021 for the concert in Central Park to celebrate New York's exit from Covid. And also this year he sold his entire music catalog to Sony, as Bob Dylan and Neil Young had already done, over 400 songs including some that have been the soundtrack for the last half century, from "Sound of Silence "," Bridge over Troubled Water "," Mrs. Robinson "from" Graduate "," Still Crazy after All These Years "and" Graceland ".In the meantime, three studio albums So Beautiful or So What (2011), Stranger to Stranger (2016), In the Blue Light (2018) have been released. And in 2011 he had moved with The Song of Silence at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum on the occasion of the ceremony for the tenth anniversary of the massacre of the Twin Towers in New York. From the mid-1980s, after Graceland, the masterpiece album that made a decisive contribution to the definition of the concept of World Music, establishing itself as one of the most successful examples of the history of fusion between popular and African music, Simon and has become a reference figure, a rare example of an artist universally recognized as having a superior status, who crosses the same musical boundaries. There are not many examples of personalitywho in music have managed to continue a solo career with such high results after an experience as long and important as the one he lived alongside Art Garfunkel. Simon & Garfunkel represent an important chapter in the history of pop culture: Bridge Over Troubled Water, The Song of Silence, Mrs Robinson (soundtrack of the Laureato) are now standards, songs that, for more than 40 represent much more than a song. Paul Simon is the author of almost all the songs of the duo and it is no coincidence that far from him Garfunkel did things that were anything but memorable. The quarrels, the separations, the reconciliations with tours and concerts have marked the lives of both who are rightly part of the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame. But Paul Simon issucceeded in pursuing a career alone that led him to more complex artistic results, demonstrating that he had the resources to go much further than the role of '' creative half '' of the duo with Garfunkel. He has collected the most prestigious prizes, from the Grammy to the Gershwin Prize (which is one of the most important awards in American culture), he has taken away the satisfaction of holding a concert in Central Park (from which a magnificent live) in front of 750,000 people, played at the White House and managed to recover from the sensational flop, at the end of the 90s, of The Capeman, the musical that in his intentions was to be the sublimation of his story soloist and instead it became a disaster for which,it is said that he had to shell out $ 11 million out of his own pocket. Paul Simon is a brilliant man whose private life is not always easy (the divorce from Carrie Fisher was anything but painless) and an amazing songwriter, gifted with a rare ability to mix genres and musical traditions transforming them into style. His concerts, as demonstrated by his Italian appearances three years ago, are an enchantment: a band made up of amazing musicians, a repertoire full of musical gems, an entertainer who plays and sings with the awareness of a career spanning almost 60 years.endowed with a rare ability to mix genres and musical traditions transforming them into style. His concerts, as demonstrated by his Italian appearances three years ago, are an enchantment: a band made up of amazing musicians, a repertoire full of musical gems, an entertainer who plays and sings with the awareness of a career spanning almost 60 years.endowed with a rare ability to mix genres and musical traditions transforming them into style. His concerts, as demonstrated by his Italian appearances three years ago, are an enchantment: a band made up of amazing musicians, a repertoire full of musical gems, an entertainer who plays and sings with the awareness of a career spanning almost 60 years.