Nina Simone

There's no other purpose, so far as I'm concerned, for us except to reflect the times, the situations around us and the things we're able to say through our art, the things that millions of people can't say. I think that's the function of an artist and, of course, those of us who are lucky leave a legacy so that when we're dead, we also live on. That's people like Billie Holiday and I hope that I will be that lucky, but meanwhile, the function, so far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times, whatever that might be.

  Nina Simone, 1969

Nina Simone. What a great lady. What an artist.

I have discovered Mississippi Goddam less than a year ago and I couldn't imagine how activist the lady was. At the beginning, I must admit that I didn't really like the tune. But when listening the lyrics I remember having thinking: waou, what a powerful song. This is a Civil right protest song talking about the death of Medgar Evers and the killing of four schoolgirls at the Alabama Church bombing in 1963.