Two decades ago, when Paul Simon came to Johannesburg to record the initial five tracks for his “Graceland” album, bassist Baghiti Kumalo had to sell newspapers on the streets of Soweto in order to supplement his meager living as a musician. Those are Baghiti’s dancing bass lines you hear songs like “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” and “Graceland.” The South African musician played them on a cheap American-made fretless bass on which he had to patch the strings when they broke because he couldn’t afford new ones.“Those strings cut my fingers until they bled,” Baghiti recalls. “The fretless bass was the cheapest bass to play at the time. Some thought it was out of tune but that’s the way that bass sounds. There weren’t too many fretless players in South Africa at the time. I first heard it from the records that (jazz bass player) Jaco Pastorius played on. When I heard the beautiful sound he got on the fretless, it sounded so good that’s what I wanted.”Baghiti now lives in the United States and is married to Robbi Kumalo, an American musician whom he originally met while she was working for Paul Simon. One can say that his union with Simon has brought prosperity to Baghiti Kumalo’s creative and personal life.The two once again are reunited on the current Paul Simon “Surprise” tour, which will appear at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands.When Simon first went to South Africa, he was accused of breaking the economic boycott against the white-ruling government and of exploiting South African artists. Opposition was particularly strong in England, where Simon’s concerts were picketed by British anti-apartheid protesters. Others also believed Simon was a kind of cultural imperialist, appropriating local culture for Western audiences.As a black musician, Baghiti had another take on the situation. He argues that Simon gave his musical collaborators full credit for their contributions, paid them three times the going rate and used his clout to establish them on the international circuit.“Paul is not a politician,” he says. “He went to South Africa because he loved the music. He took care of all the musicians he worked with. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be here today.”This is not to say that black South African musicians were unsophisticated. South Africa has the most complex musical history on the continent. The issue was the apartheid government’s concept of “separate development.” In practice, this meant white-run record companies hired black producers who found and recorded black musicians. Residuals on record sales rarely found their way to the artists. Because the radio stations were controlled by the government, Baghiti says, “they played South African music for one hour and U.S. music for the rest of the time. Adding to the radio underexposure was a series of rigidly segregated public entertainment venues. Black musicians were basically limited to township clubs and halls.“I was playing but it wasn’t enough to make a living,” Baghiti says. “The kind of life we live was a tough route because you worried about a lot of things. But that didn’t take away the focus of what I wanted to do with my life.”After Simon completed the initial tracks to “Graceland” in Johannesburg, he told Baghiti and the other musicians that the album would be completed in New York. The problem was that the South African government was reluctant to issue passports to black musicians.“Paul wrote a letter [to the government] saying that I must come to New York to finish the album. I first realized how much my life had really changed on the 17-hour flight to New York.”Fortunately, “Graceland” took off after its release, becoming a major hit for Simon and winning a Grammy award. It has since been recognized by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the 100 greatest albums of all time.South African music might have evolved differently if “Graceland” hadn’t been a critical and commercial success. Simon returned to South Africa where he did a series of concerts to mixed audiences.“We had a musician’s organization that Paul took care of,” Baghiti continues. “He understood the struggle to be a musician. Most people (outside Africa) learned about South African music from what Paul did and from the Graceland tour. Now at the age of 50, I’m so happy to be back on the stage playing with Paul.”After he completed the “Graceland” world and U.S. tours, Baghiti toured with South African musicians Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba. He met his future wife, Robbi, an aspiring musician, who worked in Paul Simon’s New York office in the early 1990s.“I played on her demos back then and we became close. Marrying her changed my life the way life should change. I became an adult and a man. This is what my father didn’t have: the power to grow and become a man. But because of this record, I got that power even though originally there were so many problems in South Africa.”Baghiti has been gigging with musicians like Herbie Hancock (he played on Hancock’s last album) and Randy Brecker as well as teaching the bass guitar. His new record, “This Is Me,” features a new six-string bass on which Baghiti plays lead melodies and solos.“This record shows my American influences, listening to people like Stanley Clarke,” he says. “You can still hear the South African influence from the rhythm, but the melodies and chords are American.“Right now, I’m enjoying my life. My children are teaching me about a life I’ve never experienced. It’s still amazing every time I think about coming from a four-room house in Soweto to a ranch house in Long Island.”

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The Paul Simon “Surprise” tour will appear here on July 22 at 7:30 p.m. at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in the Woodlands. A few tickets are available at Ticket Master locations.