"Graceland" features an eclectic mixture of musical styles including pop, "a cappella", zydeco, "isicathamiya", rock, and "mbaqanga"." Mbaqanga", or "township jive", originated as the street music of Soweto, South Africa. The album was strongly influenced by the earlier work of South African musicians Johnny Clegg and Sipho Mchunu, and their band Juluka's Zulu-Western pop crossover music. Juluka was South Africa's first integrated pop band. Simon includes thanks to Clegg, Juluka, and Juluka's producer Hilton Rosenthal in the "Special Thanks" citation in "Graceland"'s liner notes. He included American "roots" influences with tracks featuring zydeco musicians such as Rockin' Dopsie and Tex-Mex musicians.