0:00:10 > 0:00:13# Take me outside
0:00:13 > 0:00:15# Sit in a green garden... #
0:00:15 > 0:00:17'I'm Laura Mvula.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20'When my debut album, Sing To The Moon, was released,
0:00:20 > 0:00:23'someone said I sounded like Nina Simone.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25'No-one sounds like Nina.
0:00:25 > 0:00:27'But I'm hugely flattered,
0:00:27 > 0:00:29'as I've always felt a deep connection with her.'
0:00:29 > 0:00:31# I put a spell on you...
0:00:31 > 0:00:33APPLAUSE
0:00:38 > 0:00:41# Cos you're mine, yeah... #
0:00:46 > 0:00:50'Nina Simone's infectious music still speaks to us,
0:00:50 > 0:00:54'over half a century since she first performed her songs.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56'Her influence is immense.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58'She's the one who opened the door
0:00:58 > 0:01:03'for generations of bold black female performers, including me.'
0:01:03 > 0:01:07I remember when I was, like, 17, I was like, "What is this,
0:01:07 > 0:01:11"and why do I want to cry when I hear her...wail or moan
0:01:11 > 0:01:13"or chant or shout?"
0:01:13 > 0:01:16'She's an artist with an extraordinary song book
0:01:16 > 0:01:18'that's almost impossible to categorise.
0:01:19 > 0:01:25'Her music has soul, jazz, folk and classical elements.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28'Sometimes it's feel-good and joyful,
0:01:28 > 0:01:32'other times it's like dark, bewitching blues.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37'I've come to New York City to explore
0:01:37 > 0:01:41'some of the Nina Simone songs that mean most to me and to find out
0:01:41 > 0:01:45'why Nina's music still casts a spell over her listeners today.
0:01:50 > 0:01:55# Because
0:01:55 > 0:02:02# You're mine. #
0:02:05 > 0:02:08APPLAUSE
0:02:14 > 0:02:18'I'm going right back to the beginning of Nina's musical story
0:02:18 > 0:02:21'and I'm starting my journey in Harlem.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23'The young Nina Simone came here
0:02:23 > 0:02:28'when it was the Juilliard School of Music in the summer of 1950.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32'Back then she was Eunice Waymon, a gifted 17-year-old
0:02:32 > 0:02:37'who aspired to become the world's first black concert pianist.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40'But Eunice never completed her conservatoire training.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44'To make money she started out as a nightclub singer
0:02:44 > 0:02:47'and renamed herself Nina Simone.'
0:02:47 > 0:02:49# I want your love and I don't want to borrow
0:02:49 > 0:02:52# Have it today to give back tomorrow
0:02:52 > 0:02:55# Your love is my love, there's no love for nobody else... #
0:02:57 > 0:03:01'In 1957 Nina recorded her first album, which captured
0:03:01 > 0:03:04'the rich variety of songs and styles
0:03:04 > 0:03:06'she'd been playing in the clubs.'
0:03:09 > 0:03:13'Like Nina, I studied classical piano, and to me
0:03:13 > 0:03:17'it's clear from her arrangements of songs like Love Me Or Leave Me
0:03:17 > 0:03:21'that she owes as much the baroque music of Johann Sebastian Bach
0:03:21 > 0:03:24'as to any jazz or blues performer.'
0:03:26 > 0:03:30I can hear so much how she's influenced by Bach.
0:03:30 > 0:03:35It's his melodies and the way that she's using the fugue idea,
0:03:35 > 0:03:40and so the fugue idea is when we have one tune on top
0:03:40 > 0:03:44and maybe there's another tune that comes underneath, and they're
0:03:44 > 0:03:48working independently and somehow working together at the same time.
0:03:48 > 0:03:53And I've transcribed just a little bit of the part where she's
0:03:53 > 0:03:54improvising classically.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58Only four bars, because my hands can't handle what she does.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04# I want your love, I don't want to borrow
0:04:04 > 0:04:07# Have it today to give back tomorrow
0:04:07 > 0:04:09# Your love is my love
0:04:09 > 0:04:11# There's no love for nobody else. #
0:04:35 > 0:04:38Once she's sung the first verse and the chorus
0:04:38 > 0:04:40then she's free with this improvisation.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44What's even more awesome is that she takes risks with this.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49She knows all the rules but then she completely abandons them.
0:04:49 > 0:04:54# For nobody else. #
0:04:56 > 0:04:58APPLAUSE
0:05:04 > 0:05:07'I've come to Greenwich Village to meet someone
0:05:07 > 0:05:10'who tuned in to Nina's distinct musical wavelength.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14'Al Schackman was her musical director,
0:05:14 > 0:05:17'guitarist and friend for 46 years.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23'Nina and Al would play many songs on many stages together
0:05:23 > 0:05:26'but the Village Gate was where they played the most.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30'The very first song they played together
0:05:30 > 0:05:34'was also the title track of Nina's first album, Little Girl Blue.'
0:05:34 > 0:05:38# Sit there
0:05:38 > 0:05:44# Count your little fingers
0:05:47 > 0:05:50# Unhappy little girl blue... #
0:05:50 > 0:05:53'It's a record very dear to my heart.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57'I've covered the song and I'm going to play it with Al today.'
0:05:57 > 0:06:01# Sit there
0:06:02 > 0:06:06# And count the raindrops
0:06:08 > 0:06:14# Falling on you
0:06:15 > 0:06:20# It's time you knew
0:06:24 > 0:06:28# All you can ever count on
0:06:28 > 0:06:32# Are the raindrops
0:06:35 > 0:06:39# That fall on little girl blue... #
0:06:39 > 0:06:43'I love the way she uses the countermelody of Good King Wenceslas
0:06:43 > 0:06:45'as if it were a Bach fugue.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47'Mixing up her influences
0:06:47 > 0:06:50'made Nina's arrangements complex and exciting.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53'She played popular tunes like a classical pianist.'
0:06:54 > 0:06:57# Blue boy
0:07:00 > 0:07:04# To cheer up
0:07:04 > 0:07:09# Little girl blue. #
0:07:25 > 0:07:27Mmm.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31- Yes, ma'am!- Thank you, sir.- Oh, it's chills being back here in this...
0:07:31 > 0:07:36- Really? I bet.- In this place. I never played the song again...- Mm.
0:07:36 > 0:07:41- ..since Nina, until now.- Wow. - And it's, like, whoa!
0:07:41 > 0:07:45And she never told me what she was going to play, didn't
0:07:45 > 0:07:49look at me, no key or anything, and she started in on the introduction.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51- OK. Wow.- To Little Girl Blue.- Wow.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55And I started to play the counterpoint with her and then
0:07:55 > 0:07:58she looked up at me and I looked down at her
0:07:58 > 0:08:00- and we were off and running.- Wow.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02And it was...it was fabulous.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06# We come
0:08:08 > 0:08:10# And we go... #
0:08:10 > 0:08:13It just seemed to be organic, just natural.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16We were like telepathic together.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23'Nina and Al's musical relationship was for the most part harmonious
0:08:23 > 0:08:26'but from the beginning Nina demanded
0:08:26 > 0:08:28'only the best from her band.'
0:08:28 > 0:08:33Suddenly she would decide to change the key, and she would just start.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35You know, instead of playing E flat she'd start in E,
0:08:35 > 0:08:38- and I knew she was in E.- Whoo! - We both had perfect pitch.
0:08:38 > 0:08:44I'd be standing, usually on a riser, above her piano on that side,
0:08:44 > 0:08:46and the audience would be out here,
0:08:46 > 0:08:49and the bass player would be there,
0:08:49 > 0:08:52the drummer there and percussion...out there.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56- And I would just quickly say, "E!" - Wow.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59- God help us if we stumbled and made a mistake.- Really?- Yeah.- OK.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02- She was a taskmaster.- Right.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06And if one of us just goofed something in the arrangement of
0:09:06 > 0:09:09anything we did in rehearsal,
0:09:09 > 0:09:13we'd have to repeat the piece ten times.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16- Oh, wow. - Because that's how she was taught
0:09:16 > 0:09:19when she was a youngster by her piano teacher.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23- You know this one? - HE PLAYS "MY BABY JUST CARES FOR ME"
0:09:28 > 0:09:31# My baby don't care for shows
0:09:32 > 0:09:35# My baby don't care for clothes
0:09:36 > 0:09:40# My baby just cares for me!
0:09:43 > 0:09:45# My baby don't care for
0:09:48 > 0:09:51# Cars and races
0:09:51 > 0:09:55# My baby don't care for
0:09:55 > 0:09:58# Don't care for high-tone places
0:09:58 > 0:10:00# Liz Taylor is... #
0:10:00 > 0:10:03'Within her repertoire, Nina Simone effortlessly covered
0:10:03 > 0:10:08'everything from ballad to blues, show tune to pop song.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12'In her hands they were transformed into extraordinary,
0:10:12 > 0:10:14'timeless classics.'
0:10:14 > 0:10:18# My baby don't care who
0:10:18 > 0:10:21# Who knows
0:10:21 > 0:10:25# My baby just cares for me. #
0:10:32 > 0:10:34THEY LAUGH
0:10:38 > 0:10:39# Baby
0:10:39 > 0:10:41# My baby don't care for shows... #
0:10:41 > 0:10:44'Nina arranged her cover of My Baby Just Cares For Me
0:10:44 > 0:10:48'as a filler for that same debut album in 1957.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51'But 30 years later this long-forgotten song
0:10:51 > 0:10:52'became a worldwide hit,
0:10:52 > 0:10:56'inspiring a new generation of fans to discover her music.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59'From TV adverts to dance floor remixes,
0:10:59 > 0:11:02'Nina's songs have surrounded us ever since.'
0:11:02 > 0:11:05# My baby just cares
0:11:05 > 0:11:06# For me. #
0:11:11 > 0:11:15'So what is it about Nina's music that makes it so hard to resist?
0:11:17 > 0:11:21'Underneath her grooves, showmanship and classical stylings,
0:11:21 > 0:11:26'there's something else that gives her songs deep emotional impact.'
0:11:26 > 0:11:28# Listen here
0:11:28 > 0:11:31# Nobody's fault but mine
0:11:33 > 0:11:37# Nobody's fault but mine
0:11:37 > 0:11:41# I said, if I die and my soul is lost
0:11:41 > 0:11:45# Hey! Nobody's fault but mine... #
0:11:45 > 0:11:48'Nina's mother was a Methodist minister.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50'She had her musically gifted daughter
0:11:50 > 0:11:54'playing the opening hymn in church from just four years old
0:11:54 > 0:11:58'and leading the congregation at the piano from the age of five.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00'In her mother's eyes,
0:12:00 > 0:12:03'Eunice had a gift from God that had to be shared.'
0:12:03 > 0:12:08# Well, if I die and my soul is lost
0:12:08 > 0:12:11- # Nobody - Nobody's fault but mine
0:12:11 > 0:12:14# Nobody's fault but mine... #
0:12:14 > 0:12:17We were all born in the Depression
0:12:17 > 0:12:21and grew up in the South in the '30s and '40s,
0:12:21 > 0:12:24and what life was like then formed us.
0:12:24 > 0:12:29We're around the same age and we both are from North Carolina.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32'Bill Eaton is a musical arranger who's worked with
0:12:32 > 0:12:36'Harry Belafonte, Roberta Flack and Bill Withers,
0:12:36 > 0:12:40'and he shares the same Southern gospel roots with Nina.'
0:12:40 > 0:12:45So what do you think Nina took from her church upbringing,
0:12:45 > 0:12:48the gospel music that surrounded her as a kid?
0:12:48 > 0:12:52Playing in church, you know, you sit there and you listen,
0:12:52 > 0:12:58and when the preacher gets to a certain level of fervour
0:12:58 > 0:13:00- you start doing stuff on the piano.- OK.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04And he says, "Yeah!", you go...hmmm. He says, "Yeah!", you go... You know.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07And then people...you know, the people respond to that,
0:13:07 > 0:13:11and pretty soon you've got a maelstrom of emotions going on.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21- And you lit the match.- Yes.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24Gives you a sense of power, and you never forget that sense of power.
0:13:24 > 0:13:29You can bring that into any arena if you're a performer.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36'Decades later, the lessons she learnt in church would
0:13:36 > 0:13:39'inspire Nina to create her version of an old spiritual
0:13:39 > 0:13:42'that remains one of her most popular songs today.'
0:13:42 > 0:13:46# Oh, sinnerman, where you gonna run to?
0:13:46 > 0:13:49# Sinnerman, where you gonna run to?
0:13:49 > 0:13:51# Whoo!
0:13:51 > 0:13:53# Where you gonna run to
0:13:53 > 0:13:55# On that day?
0:13:55 > 0:13:57# Well, I run to the rock... #
0:13:57 > 0:14:00'Sinnerman... Nina made it sound like gospel song.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03'She brought her genius to it
0:14:03 > 0:14:08'and applied what she learned in church to the music.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10'What she did to the song was,
0:14:10 > 0:14:14'she just made it a vehicle for her creativity, that's all.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18# Lord, Lord, Lord
0:14:18 > 0:14:20# On that day
0:14:20 > 0:14:22# I said, rock
0:14:22 > 0:14:24# What's the matter with you? #
0:14:24 > 0:14:28'Like Nina, I grew up with gospel music.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30'Once it's in your blood it stays with you,
0:14:30 > 0:14:32'and I'm still drawing on its influence.'
0:14:32 > 0:14:34# So I ran to the devil
0:14:34 > 0:14:37# Devil was waiting I ran to the devil
0:14:37 > 0:14:42# Devil was waiting I ran to the devil, oh, oh, oh
0:14:42 > 0:14:44# Lord, on that day... #
0:14:44 > 0:14:48'And the call and response that we hear in the song,
0:14:48 > 0:14:51'it's not a thing that's a... roots thing that came up,
0:14:51 > 0:14:53'that she heard around her.
0:14:53 > 0:14:54'That's totally her invention.'
0:14:54 > 0:14:56# Power
0:14:56 > 0:14:57# Power
0:14:57 > 0:14:59# Power
0:14:59 > 0:15:01# Power
0:15:01 > 0:15:02# Power
0:15:02 > 0:15:03# Power
0:15:03 > 0:15:05# Power
0:15:05 > 0:15:09# Oh, sinnerman, where you gonna run to?
0:15:09 > 0:15:12# On that day... #
0:15:12 > 0:15:14You can take a choir
0:15:14 > 0:15:18and have them perform it the way she performed it...
0:15:18 > 0:15:20- Mm.- ..and it becomes powerful.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24In the same way that it became powerful when she performed it.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26- That's a real gift if people do that.- Mm-hm.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28By the time she went out to the world, she'd already
0:15:28 > 0:15:31made people get in the aisle and dance around like that, so she...
0:15:31 > 0:15:34- You know.- Yeah.- She knew she could do it.- She knew what she was doing.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37Oh, she was always confident in that way.
0:15:40 > 0:15:44'Nina's background in gospel gave her an exceptional ability
0:15:44 > 0:15:46'to improvise and connect with her audience.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50'It made her a compelling and unpredictable stage presence.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54'Nina lived to perform. As she herself said...
0:15:54 > 0:15:56'If I had my way, it would just take off.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00'If a band could be there right then and start playing
0:16:00 > 0:16:03'and everybody start dancing, oh, wow, what a happening.
0:16:03 > 0:16:04'What a happening.'
0:16:08 > 0:16:12'As the 1960s took hold and Nina grew as a performer, she would use
0:16:12 > 0:16:16'her talent for rousing an audience in a new and radical way.
0:16:17 > 0:16:22'And it was in 1963 that Nina was first spurred into action.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28'First there was the murder of Medgar Evers, a leading light
0:16:28 > 0:16:32'in the civil rights movement, at the hands of a white man.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36'Then four black schoolchildren were killed when Ku Klux Klan members
0:16:36 > 0:16:40'threw dynamite into a Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45'Nina Simone was determined to fight back.'
0:16:46 > 0:16:48She just went ballistic,
0:16:48 > 0:16:53and wanted to buy a gun and go down South and just kill people.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55You say, "You don't know how to shoot a gun."
0:16:55 > 0:16:58- She says, "I can learn." - THEY LAUGH
0:16:58 > 0:17:02She once said, "All I have to do is point and pull the trigger
0:17:02 > 0:17:04"and I know what I'm pointing at."
0:17:04 > 0:17:08And we all said, you know, "Why don't you just turn that into...
0:17:08 > 0:17:10"you know, write about it, tell the story,
0:17:10 > 0:17:14"do what you can, what you know how to do."
0:17:14 > 0:17:17# Hound dogs on my trail
0:17:17 > 0:17:20# Schoolchildren sitting in jail... #
0:17:20 > 0:17:23'Instead, Nina chose music as her weapon,
0:17:23 > 0:17:27'and, fired up with rage, wrote both the words and the music of a song
0:17:27 > 0:17:29'for the first time in her career.'
0:17:29 > 0:17:33# God have mercy on this land of mine
0:17:33 > 0:17:36# We all gonna get it in due time
0:17:36 > 0:17:39# I don't belong here, I don't belong there
0:17:39 > 0:17:43# I've even stopped believing in prayer
0:17:43 > 0:17:46# Almost, but not quite... #
0:17:46 > 0:17:50- She wrote that song, like, in minutes, almost.- Really?
0:17:50 > 0:17:55Yeah, and we performed it for the first time here at the Village Gate.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59Depending on her mood or what she had been thinking about,
0:17:59 > 0:18:02she would change some phrasing, drop a different line in, especially
0:18:02 > 0:18:07during the interlude, where, you know, we're just playing...
0:18:07 > 0:18:08Yeah, so...
0:18:09 > 0:18:12Right. So keep that going.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16And that's where she'd do...
0:18:16 > 0:18:22Er, "This is a show tune but the show hasn't been written for it yet.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27"Did you hear about what happened in North Carolina?
0:18:27 > 0:18:31"It's just another goddam example of Mississippi Goddam,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34"Carolina Goddam, the whole South Goddam."
0:18:34 > 0:18:37- And that's how she would... - Yeah.- She would just go...
0:18:37 > 0:18:40- So could we try a little bit of Mississippi Goddam?- Yeah.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43- Yeah, you've got the vamp, you... - OK, well, I'll do my best.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45- Or I'll do it, if you want. - Yeah, yeah, you start.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54# Alabama got me so upset
0:18:54 > 0:18:58# Tennessee make me lose my rest
0:18:58 > 0:19:02# Everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam
0:19:03 > 0:19:05# Can you see it... #
0:19:05 > 0:19:08'Mississippi Goddam is a song that makes me
0:19:08 > 0:19:11'want to sing along with its catchy show-tune rhythm.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15'But what makes it so amazing are the bitter,
0:19:15 > 0:19:18'electrically charged lyrics that she places on top.'
0:19:18 > 0:19:21- # Well, that's just the trouble - Too slow!
0:19:21 > 0:19:24- # Desegregation - Too slow!
0:19:24 > 0:19:27- # Mass participation - Too slow!
0:19:27 > 0:19:31- # Unification - Too slow!
0:19:31 > 0:19:34- # Do things gradually - Too slow!
0:19:34 > 0:19:37- # Will bring more tragedy - Too slow!
0:19:37 > 0:19:40# Why don't you see it? Why don't you feel it?
0:19:40 > 0:19:42# I don't know... #
0:19:42 > 0:19:46- What was the response from the audience?- Erm...kinda shocked.- OK.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50I mean, there really wasn't a song like that,
0:19:50 > 0:19:55dedicated so strongly and with such strong statements, like,
0:19:55 > 0:19:58"You don't have to live with me, just give me my equality."
0:19:58 > 0:20:01# You don't have to live next to me... #
0:20:01 > 0:20:05'Releasing Mississippi Goddam was a bold decision for Nina.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08'Crates of her records were broken in protest.
0:20:08 > 0:20:12'Nina's bravery would cost her the loyalty of much of her white audience.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17'But in 1965, when Martin Luther King led thousands
0:20:17 > 0:20:22'marching 54 miles over five days for black voting rights in Alabama
0:20:22 > 0:20:26'and the South, Nina couldn't stand watching the unrest
0:20:26 > 0:20:29'unfold from the sidelines and decided that she and Al would
0:20:29 > 0:20:33'take the firebrand song to an audience who would appreciate it.'
0:20:34 > 0:20:37We actually were playing at the Village Gate and we flew down from there
0:20:37 > 0:20:41and we had to go through the lines of state police that were
0:20:41 > 0:20:43surrounding the seminary,
0:20:43 > 0:20:46where the big concert was going to happen on the soccer field.
0:20:46 > 0:20:51Harry Belafonte, James Baldwin, erm, Leonard Bernstein,
0:20:51 > 0:20:56and we had to cross those lines to get in to perform.
0:20:56 > 0:20:58# Can't you see it, can't you feel it?
0:21:00 > 0:21:02# It's all in the air
0:21:03 > 0:21:06# I can't stand the pressure much longer
0:21:06 > 0:21:09# Somebody say a prayer
0:21:10 > 0:21:12# Alabama's got me so upset
0:21:13 > 0:21:17# Selma makes me lose my rest CHEERING
0:21:17 > 0:21:21# And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam... #
0:21:24 > 0:21:28'In Mississippi Goddam, Nina Simone proved herself a brilliant
0:21:28 > 0:21:31'and original songwriter, who could write powerful music
0:21:31 > 0:21:35'and lyrics that helped inspire and agitate her generation.'
0:21:35 > 0:21:38# I want a little sugar... APPLAUSE
0:21:38 > 0:21:40# In my bowl... #
0:21:40 > 0:21:43'But Nina didn't only lend her voice to the struggle.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47'She also expressed the new-found female confidence
0:21:47 > 0:21:50'and independence of the era in a very personal way
0:21:50 > 0:21:55'with her versions of songs like I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl,
0:21:55 > 0:21:58'originally performed by blueswoman Bessie Smith.'
0:22:00 > 0:22:02The blues singers are the most famous performers
0:22:02 > 0:22:06in the African-American tradition at the time
0:22:06 > 0:22:10but they're also making us think about black women's sexuality,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14not in the stereotypical way of being hypersexual
0:22:14 > 0:22:17but about women who have sexual agency, who have sexual desire.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22# I put a spell on you... APPLAUSE
0:22:28 > 0:22:31# Cos you're mine, yeah
0:22:35 > 0:22:37# I don't like the things you do
0:22:41 > 0:22:44# I ain't lyin'... #
0:22:44 > 0:22:46There's something about Nina Simone's style
0:22:46 > 0:22:49that I think most audiences would think is quite haunting,
0:22:49 > 0:22:51that we're left with this spell.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54But I think Nina Simone, and I can't think of too many artists who can
0:22:54 > 0:22:58do this, but she brings vulnerability and defiance together.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01# They say you're mean and evil... #
0:23:01 > 0:23:03And I think that actually is something that
0:23:03 > 0:23:08artists are trying to find and articulate for themselves today.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10Part of that I think is what the blueswomen gave her,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13and then she kind of adapts it, because with the 1960s
0:23:13 > 0:23:16there's this vibrant feminist movement and women really
0:23:16 > 0:23:20are redefining what it means to be sexual and what it means to be free.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23And so even though she didn't self-identify as a feminist
0:23:23 > 0:23:26she's also shaping that movement and part of that movement as well.
0:23:31 > 0:23:33'I've come to meet Camille Yarbrough,
0:23:33 > 0:23:36'an activist, writer and musician.'
0:23:36 > 0:23:39- How are you?! Hi!- Come on in, come on in!
0:23:39 > 0:23:42'Camille knew and was inspired by Nina
0:23:42 > 0:23:44'and I want to talk to her today
0:23:44 > 0:23:46'about my favourite Nina song, Four Women.'
0:23:49 > 0:23:50Hello.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55'For me, it's her most striking and original composition, where
0:23:55 > 0:23:58'she binds together all her themes
0:23:58 > 0:24:02'of sexuality, race and emancipation.'
0:24:02 > 0:24:05# My skin is black
0:24:08 > 0:24:11# My arms are long... #
0:24:11 > 0:24:13'Here, Nina Simone dared examine
0:24:13 > 0:24:16'the troubled history of black female experience
0:24:16 > 0:24:20'in an America that was still dealing with the legacy of slavery.'
0:24:20 > 0:24:23# And my back is strong... #
0:24:23 > 0:24:28# Strong enough to take the pain
0:24:28 > 0:24:34# Inflicted again and again
0:24:34 > 0:24:36# What do they call me?
0:24:39 > 0:24:43# They call me Aunt Sarah
0:24:46 > 0:24:51# My name is Aunt Sarah... #
0:24:51 > 0:24:54What does this song mean to you?
0:24:54 > 0:24:59All of these lyrics are disturbing to me. "My name is Aunt Sarah."
0:24:59 > 0:25:02You ain't no aunt to this family, you know what I mean?
0:25:02 > 0:25:06But when you're elderly they would refer to aunt and uncle,
0:25:06 > 0:25:10as if you belong to the family of the slaveholders.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14# My father was rich and white
0:25:16 > 0:25:20# He forced my mother late one night... #
0:25:20 > 0:25:25If people don't know what these lyrics mean, they should examine it.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29Again, Nina Simone showed her strength,
0:25:29 > 0:25:32her wisdom and her courage.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35There's the obvious expression of deep pain,
0:25:35 > 0:25:39and, like you say, it's not a comfortable song.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43But, for me, I remember thinking when I first heard it, I'd never
0:25:43 > 0:25:47heard a song before talking about four women of different shades.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51- There you go.- So this to me was revolutionary.- Yes.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53# Whose little girl am I?
0:25:55 > 0:25:59# Why, yours, if you've got some money to buy... #
0:25:59 > 0:26:03It had that longing that you hear in old spirituals.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06# Mmmmm-mmmmmmmm.... #
0:26:06 > 0:26:09- You know, they just go on and on. - Everlasting space.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12CAMILLE IMPROVISES MELODY
0:26:12 > 0:26:14You can feel it, you can hear it.
0:26:14 > 0:26:21# Sweet Thing... #
0:26:21 > 0:26:24So she always goes back to spirituals and gospel,
0:26:24 > 0:26:27and that's in most of her music,
0:26:27 > 0:26:31whether it's an upbeat or not it's still...it's still there.
0:26:31 > 0:26:36- I think it's probably the rawest female...black female vocal... - Mm-hm.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40- It's in my head, I'll never forget that...sound.- Mm-hm.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44'Nina's songs shine a spotlight on all kinds of human pain
0:26:44 > 0:26:50'and experience and are often full of sadness, anger and longing.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54'But some of her most well-loved and famous songs are also hopeful,
0:26:54 > 0:26:58'uplifting and irresistibly feel-good.'
0:26:58 > 0:27:04She had to say, "We experience this but we go above it."
0:27:04 > 0:27:07- Mm.- "Birds in the sky, you know how I feel.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11"A breeze going by, something, you know how I feel."
0:27:11 > 0:27:15It was a difficult period, in which she nourished us,
0:27:15 > 0:27:17through which she nourished us.
0:27:17 > 0:27:22# Birds flying high, you know how I feel
0:27:24 > 0:27:28# Sun in the sky, you know how I feel
0:27:28 > 0:27:31# Breeze drifting on by, you know how I feel
0:27:34 > 0:27:36# It's a new dawn
0:27:36 > 0:27:39# It's a new day, yeah
0:27:39 > 0:27:41# It's a new life for me
0:27:41 > 0:27:44- # And I'm feeling good - Good... #
0:27:50 > 0:27:53# Fish in the sea
0:27:53 > 0:27:55# You know how I feel
0:27:56 > 0:27:59# River running free
0:27:59 > 0:28:01# You know how I feel... #
0:28:02 > 0:28:07Nina Simone's music stirs the soul, restores, challenges,
0:28:07 > 0:28:10nourishes, uplifts and comforts.
0:28:10 > 0:28:16'She opened the door for the black female songstress and voice.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21'Here is an artist who used the broadest palette -
0:28:21 > 0:28:25'gospel, blues, classical and pop.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29'She created a musical style to express political anger,
0:28:29 > 0:28:34'personal pain and her desire for freedom.'
0:28:34 > 0:28:37I don't know if there'll ever be another artist like Nina
0:28:37 > 0:28:40but I'm thankful that the power of her legacy
0:28:40 > 0:28:43and the power of her voice lives on.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46# Oh, freedom is mine
0:28:46 > 0:28:49# And I know how I feel
0:28:49 > 0:28:54# It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life
0:28:54 > 0:28:56# For me
0:28:56 > 0:28:59SHE SCATS
0:29:04 > 0:29:09# I'm feeling good... #