Paul Simon For Polar Prize

American singer-songwriter Paul Simon and cello virtuoso Yo-Yo Ma will share this year’s Polar Music Prize.

The award, which is annually given to one contemporary musician and one classical musician, includes a prize of 1 million Swedish kronor (about $145,000).

Simon’s citation says: “Nobody else is more deserving of the epithet of “world-class songwriter.” For five decades, Paul Simon has built bridges not only over troubled waters but over entire oceans by joining the world’s continents with his music.

“With consummate skill, innovative arrangements and provocative lyrics that never fail to capture the currents of his age, Paul Simon has compiled a library of songs which will remain open to future generations.”

Yo-Yo Ma, a French-born Chinese American musician and composer, is credited with dedicating “his virtuosity and his heart to journeys of musical exploration and discovery around the world.

“Yo-Yo Ma is living proof that music is communication, passion and the ability to share experience,” the citation says.
The prize ceremony will be at Stockholm Concert Hall Aug. 28.

The Polar Music Prize was founded in 1992 by the late Stig Anderson, the manager of ABBA and one of the prime movers behind the huge international success of the Swedish group.

Previous winners include Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, Patti Smith, Peter Gabriel, Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell, Elton John, Quincy Jones, and Bruce Springsteen.