When I was in seminary, I realized that some of the music that I most connected with was markedly theological. Or, at least it resonated with my personal theology and gave witness to truths that were central, critical, and rarely proclaimed in a way that spoke to me, for me, through me.
Nina Simone is one of those folks. Surprisingly, Sade is too; Lover's Rock is like a prayer set to music. Erykah Badu, India Arie, me'shell ndegéocello, and of course the Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, some Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield. I like the artists who can articulate the experience of surviving pain and seeming devastation, but not gloss over the experience of being in the moment of pain. But, do it with honesty, not sappiness or platitudes, or all consuming despair.
I like an artist who can communicate what sounds like it feels when I'm in pain; knowing all the while that I'm working through it, and frustrations will pass.
So, somewhere along those lines, I've been fucking around online, because I still haven't added the citations to my paper. But, I came across this Nina Simone Clip. Mmmmm.
Sometimes, she soothes my weary soul.
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