Paul Simon to perform entire Graceland album in concert

Paul Simon will headline Hard Rock Calling 2012 on Sunday 15 July in London’s Hyde Park.

The US singer-songwriter will be performing his seminal 'Graceland' album in its entirety, as part of its 25th anniversary celebrations.

Graceland is considered by many to be one of the most influential albums of the last three decades.

Simon will reunite with South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo for the first time on a UK stage since 1987.

When they last appeared on stage together at the Royal Albert Hall, along with other South African musicians, it was one of the most controversial shows in British pop history.

Outside the venue, leading British musicians joined people in protest that Simon had broken the United Nations and African National Congress's cultural boycott of apartheid-era South Africa.

They included Billy Bragg, Paul Weller and Jerry Dammers, famous for writing one of the great anti-apartheid anthems, Nelson Mandela.

Together, they delivered a letter to Simon, asking him to apologise.

Twenty-five years on, a documentary about the making of the album, 'Paul Simon: Under African Skies' will be screened at the Sundance Film Festival in April to mark the anniversary.

The full-length film, follows Simon as he returns to South Africa after his first visit.

Simon is seen talking to Dali Tambo, the son of former ANC president Oliver Tambo and the founder of Artists Against Apartheid.

Tambo told the Guardian: "I forgive him, though he was going against the policy of the UN and the ANC, inside and outside the country.

"In our discussions he explained his naivety at the time. I believe his heart was in the right place, even if his actions were not correct."

When asked his reaction to the Hyde Park concert, Tambo said: "I'd go, if I was in London. He's written great songs, and I've never objected to his music."