BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Music	Theatrical Trailer(s)	None
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	None
Year Released	1988	Commentary Tracks	None
Running Time	89:28 minutes	Other Extras	None
RSDL/Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Movie
Region	2,3,4,5,6	Director	Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision Australia	Starring	Paul Simon Miriam Makeba Hugh Masekela Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Case	Super Jewel Case
RRP	$39.95	Music	Paul Simon

    This is a recording of a concert given at Rufaro Stadium, in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1987 in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd. At the time this was about as close as Paul Simon, Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela could get to South Africa for various reasons (Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela were political exiles), and it is interesting to speculate as to how much of a contribution these artists made to the dismantling of Apartheid in that country. The concert covers the entire Graceland album, with a few additional tracks from the guest performers. Looking at it now, it is not an especially great concert, but for its time it had a lot of meaning, and therefore the DVD makes a nice historical document.

Video

    This is obviously a transfer hamstrung by the quality of the source material, which is simply not the best. There is noticeable lack of focus at times, and the overall affect of the transfer is a flattish image with no real depth to it. It looks decidedly two dimensional at times. It is not at all sharp and the rather diffuse image at times I found tiring to watch. Overall, the transfer lacks a little in definition.

    The colours are slightly muted and there is no hint of oversaturation at all - indeed there appeared to be a consistent undersaturation here. This is not a vibrant transfer at all, which is a pity as some of the gear worn by the performers looked very colourful. Funnily enough this contrasts with the impression I got from the Classic Albums issue, which contained a number of excerpts from this concert.

    There did not appear to be any MPEG artefacts in the transfer, nor were film-to-video artefacts a problem. There did not appear to be any film artefacts present in the transfer, reflecting perhaps a video source for the material.

Audio

    There is only the one audio track on the DVD, an English Linear PCM 48/16 soundtrack. This is CD quality sound.

    The music and vocals are very clear and understandable in the soundtrack.

    Audio sync did not appear to be a problem with the soundtrack.

    The soundtrack does not make much use of the surround channels and completely ignores the bass channel. This is not a concern per se, as the resultant sound is very good and nicely detailed, and cranking up the volume really gets this little gem rocking along most enjoyably.

    A decidedly average video transfer.

    A good audio transfer.

    But no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ian Morris
13th January 2000