Nina Simone brings a grave determination to every performance and that power doesn't diminish when the tone is more relaxed. There is always the possibility that she will always be drenched in a seriousness that becomes tiresome or overdone but that never happens because everything she does is so lovely and so effortless. Here she takes a classic show tune and gives it a twist of her signature melancholy. (Good to see that You Tube has quite a range of Simone performances from a variety of time periods and moods)
Nina Simone -- 'I Love You Porgy'
She gets quite militant in this interview for a French documentary. I understand her feeling, but the reality of violence is a bit more complicated than her fierce feeling completely considers. Non-violence worked for Gandhi because his followers by far outnumbered the oppressive imperialists in India; in the USA that demographic reality simply did not exist. Non-violence in America (which was only non-violent to the whites, it should be noted) was a bold maneuver designed to expose injustice to the world, to open peoples' eyes to injustice that they'd simply never previously considered. Revolutionary violence would've led their constituents to nothing more than early graves and any thought of overthrow would've been unrealistic. That said, its hard to argue with her passion, her power is just is strong in conversation as in performance. (And there is some cool footage of her playing 'Mississippi Goddam' as well)
BONUS -- Nina Simone interview
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