NINA, NEW DAWN

NINA, NEW DAWN

Nina, New Dawn is a musical spectacle about the work and personal life of singer Nina Simone. As an avid activist, fighting for human rights and the women’s rights movement in the United States, her message still rings true all over the world today.

For Nina, New Dawn, the music of Nina Simone was placed in a more modern soundscape, between jazz, rock and electronic music. The storyline is based on several key songs, evoking Nina Simone’s life as an artist and her political engagement. The set is broken up by fragments of interviews from different moments in her life, performed by singer/actress Delphine Gardin. This highlights the timeless and universal nature of the music and message of Nina Simone.

“It is impossible to struggle for civil rights for blacks, without including whites. Because equal rights, fair play, justice, are all like the air: We ALL have it, or none of us has it. That’s the truth of it” – Maya Angelou.

To this day, Nina Simone is one of the most listened to singers in the world. She is a major influence for performers in a wide range of musical styles, from jazz to rock and pop and from classical to contemporary music. Her activism is inspiring to many, but still the general public knows little about her life, her aspirations and the fame she sacrificed for radical activism. In times where inequality seems to be increasing, a tribute to Nina Simone and her message is fitting.

Twenty years after her death, Nina Simone’s work continues to resonate powerfully, especially in light of the ongoing erosion of hard-won fundamental freedoms.