I WISH YOU COULD FEEL HOW IT FEELS TO BE ME

nina simone - live at montreaux 1976

As with any great music, one only truly gets Nina Simone, once one experiences her live, on stage, in her natural habitat.
From the moment she sets foot on stage her demeanour and poise exudes confidence. Glaring at her frantically applauding French audience as a queen would her subjects, her slightly lifted brow and down-set mouth reveals nothing of the very apparent racial divide between audience and stage (she was one of the civil rights movement's most prominent mouth-pieces), nor her inner emotional struggles (she would fight her whole life against multiple personality disorder and schizophrenia).
Seemingly disinterested in her appearance at most events, she shows up this time with a sleek black number and stylishly applied make-up.
She then proceeds to piano, and gives the typical trademark performance for which she has become so famous.

NOTHING about this show, however, is typical. Simone's relationship with her audiences have always been notoriously hot-and-cold as a direct result of the lethal combination of her amazing talent, gregarious personality and berating insults on stage.
She once was quoted as having said:
"How do you explain what it feels like to get on stage and make poetry that you know sinks into the hearts and souls of people who are unable to express it?"
And therein lies the answer.
By alienating them to a point where you can keep them at arms length, thereby forcing them to experience your music objectively and allowing you to instruct them and lead them emotionally.

This is what made her a true artist.
The audience was never quite at ease, because she didn't want them to be. And, moreover, because she herself never was.
She understood that music, as a form of art, is not there to soothe, or entertain trivial sentiment.
Music is to instruct. To amaze. To take you from comfort to something you've never experienced before, and then to realise that you're in the company of greatness.
That, even though you might never be able to express it, you have truly experienced poetry for the first time.

Let it sink into your heart and soul.

ABOUT THE DVD:
The DVD covers three performances, the main of which is her live performance at Montreaux 1976 - the full set. (bonus features include selected tracks from her performances in 1987 and 1990)

Tracklist:

1. Little Girl Blue
2. Backlash Blues
3. Be My Husband
4. I Wish I Knew (How It Would Feel to be Free)
5. Stars / Feelings
6. African Mailman
Bonus Tracks
1987
7. Someone to Watch Over Me
8. My Baby Just Cares For Me
1990
9. I Loves You Porgy
10. Liberian Calypso
11. Four Women / Mississippi Goddam
12. Ne Me Quitte Pas (Don't Leave Me)

Noted tracks (my personal highlights) are:
Little Girl Blue; I Wish I Knew (my personal fav); Stars/Feelings; 1987 - My Baby Just Cares For Me (INSANE piano rifs!!!); 1990 - Four Women/Mississippi Goddamn; Ne Me Quitte Pas (Brel would shed a tear)

In short: Trust me, you want to see this before you die.