STOCKHOLM (AFP) ― Acclaimed Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma and “world-class songwriter” Paul Simon, also of the United States, have won this year’s Polar Music prize, organisers said in Stockholm Tuesday.

Born in Paris to Chinese parents and having grown up in the United States, “Yo-Yo Ma has dedicated his virtuosity and his heart to journeys of musical exploration and discovery around the world,” the jury said in its citation.

“With a cello and curiosity in his wake, Yo-Yo Ma has ... united people from every continent,” it said, adding that the 56-year-old cellist was “living proof that music is communication, passion and the ability to share experience.”

As for 70-year-old Paul Simon, the jury insisted “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 (re)joining the world’s continents with his music,” the jury said, referring to his smash hit “Bridge over Troubled Water” when he was part of a famous duo with Art Garfunkel in the 1960s.