'High Priestess of Soul' Simone appears at Hill

By W. Jacarl Melton

Daily Arts Writer

"High Priestess of Soul" Simone Makes Ann Arbor Appearance

It's been over 25 years since her self-imposed exile from the United States, but legendary songstress Nina Simone has done anything but fall out of American musical consciousness. In recent years, contemporary artists such as Lauryn Hill and Talib Kweli have paid homage in verse to a woman who has seen her share of controversy yet continues to express her passions and beliefs through song. For this ability, Nina Simone can be regarded as one of the most dynamic figures to appear in 20th century music.

In 1954, while a student at the Julliard School of Music, Eunice Waymon began her career as a pianist in an Atlantic City bar. When the bar owner urged her to sing as well as play the piano, she did so. Waymon began to develop a repertoire in which George and Ira Gershwin's "I Loves You Porgy" became a standard. Soon, she found herself performing at Carnegie Hall and the Newport Jazz Festival. Also, Waymon changed her name in an effort to keep her family from discovering that the classical pianist Eunice had become the "pop" singer Nina Simone.

Simone started recording her music in the late 1950s. Her talents as a musician allowed her to not only perform songs in the increasingly popular rhythm and blues format of the time but she also used techniques of classical, operatic, gospel, jazz and traditional African music to derive her distinctive style. Coupled with her well-honed stage presence, Simone became known as one of the best artists of that time.

Simone's music, however, would make a great thematic shift during the civil rights struggle of late 1950s and 1960s. Her songs would take a much more Afro-centric tone while protesting the conditions in which Blacks found themselves, especially in the southern United States. After the murder of four black girls in an Alabama church, Simone wrote the very poignant "Mississippi Goddam." In it, she sings of her disgust with the South's foot dragging in providing equality for Blacks. The lyrics, coupled with the show tune nature of the instrumentation, openly mocks Jim Crow in a way few performers would attempt. Other songs, such as "To Be Young, Gifted and Black," carried themes of Black Nationalism that would be extremely popular in the latter 1960s.

Simone's stances various on issues didn't come without criticism, though. "Four Women," a song which deals with skin tone and its connotations, was banned from radio in both New York and Philadelphia because it was seen as demeaning to black people. Reactions like this, in addition to American racism and the nature of both show business and record companies, led Simone to leave the United States in 1974 for Barbados and eventually the South of France, where she currently resides.

Although it could be argued that American society has improved since her career began, Simone's presence and music has not lost any of its potency. She maintains devotees that remember her in the pre-exile years while, simultaneously, attracting a younger audience. The unifier of these two distinct legions of supporters is a woman who knows how to convey her message in a manner like no one else. Hence, the one dubbed the "High Priestess of Soul" receives the utmost respect from her appreciative congregation of fans.