Nina Simone In Concert : Identifying Activism and Self-awareness Through Interactive Qualities

Abstract: The singer and activist Nina Simone played a crucial role in the political and musical outcome of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s. This thesis aims to assess how Simone’s activism and self-awareness are expressed through interactive qualities by doing a case study of the performances of “Go Limp” and “Mississippi Goddam” on the live album In Concert. A relational approach has been suggested, where the focus has been on sociological elements of musical encounter such as interaction, rather than the aesthetical. Searching within four dimensions of social relations within which culture is enacted (division of labor, relations of power, tuning in and cultural embeddedness), constructed by sociologist of culture William G. Roy, shows that musical encounter is highly dependent of the social relations within which it manifests. Expressing social strategies such as irony, sing-along and humor as interactive methods shows that the performances of “Go Limp” and “Mississippi Goddam” were not solely defined by their composition and musical content, but also by how they were performed. Seeking beyond aesthetical features on the album In Concert have shown that the interactive qualities within the performances of “Go Limp” and “Mississippi Goddam” are highly dependent of and defined by Simone’s activism and self-awareness.