Art Not for Art’s Sake

Nina Simone in one of her interviews said, “I wish I knew how it would feel to be free.” Then went on to say that I truly feel free when I’m performing. I don’t think the extension of this claim remained credible once her talent: restricted her childhood, highlighted racial discrimination around her, emphasised male domination mainly through her husband and became more of an expression to demand civil rights rather than enjoy them. As a black woman, her talent became her undoing. She also argued later on in the documentary, that the civil rights movement didn’t exist anymore. Therefore, the sole purpose of her art, which was singing for human rights and freedom didn’t exist anymore. Simone, Ali, Robeson, Marley never produced art for art’s sake. Their art was the main political expression for black liberation.

Nina’s art also seeks to explain the life of a colored woman, something that I personally could relate to. We are built on a paradox. We know the kind of freedom we would like to enjoy, however, whenever we behave the only way that’s true to us, the surroundings around us are threatened. If a woman like Simone can express the anger within her by singing “Goddamn Mississippi” it was only because the men around her, supported her views. Therefore, Simone highlights the irony, is it the civil rights for men or is it the civil rights for women, why can it never be both? In South Asia, woman such as myself face the same kind of repression, we have some rights because those made sense to the men around us, this explains why our rights are always limited in nature. If Simone’s will to be free threatened those around her, women’s voice in South Asia have the same effect, movements such as Aurat March scare men as they feel their control undermined.

On the stage, Simone sang for black liberation despite her being subjected to women subjugation by her husband most of her life. They called it woman’s rage when the civil rights movement fired her emotions, and thus she doesn’t just have to explain why she is black, she has to explain why she is a woman. Her art that made her enjoy being free was soon a male dominated region. She was pushed to perform most of her life by her husband and then later on by her male friends in order for her to survive. She said she felt truly happy while remaining for a short while in Africa, was it because living a nomadic lifestyle freed her from being a black woman? Malcolm supporting violence to attain rights was seen as inspiring within the black community, while Simone’s support for violence was seen as an uncontrollable rage that would harm her and those around her. If a man is frightened he will be killed, however, if a woman is frightened she will be raped and killed. Simone’s art was never for its own sake. Simone’s art is the cry of a colored woman.