Nina Simone

Nina live

She had always included songs that drew upon her African-American origins and mentioned the ‘Jim Crow’ (scarecrow) laws.
These laws institutionalized a number of economic, educational, and social disadvantages in other words They mandated -de jure- racial segregation in all public facilities mainly in Southern United States.
The end of institutional discrimination came when the Jim Crow laws were overruled by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.(voting)

-In the early sixties she openly addressed the racial inequality on her debut album for Philips with the song “Mississippi Goddam” after an attack on a church that killed 4 children.
Simone later recalled how “Mississippi Goddam” was her “first civil rights song”.
it was released as a single, and boycotted in certain southern states.
Only six years later ‘this song’ and symptoms of her outspokeness (radical views) -de facto- made life in the US impossible.
In 1993, Simone settled near Aix-en-Provence (An old friend of mine) in Southern France.

-She often used silence as a musical element. Good composers who understand music often do. It was the Beatles 5th member.

-Simone had been diagnosed with ‘bipolar disorder’ in the late 1980s. which, generaly speaking, sometimes means that you can play the piano very well.

“Once I understood Bach’s music, I wanted to be a concert pianist.
Bach made me dedicate my life to music, and it was that teacher who introduced me to his world.”

“I try to swim every damn day I can, and I’ve learned to scuba dive and snorkel.”

“The worst thing about that kind of prejudice… is that while you feel hurt and angry and all the rest of it,
it feeds you Self-Doubt. You start thinking, perhaps I am not good enough..”

live in color and remember last nights dinner; buy an agenda!

Can a scarecrow feel? He sure can dance. ..HERE!