Sometimes I sound like gravel, and sometimes I sound like coffee and cream.
Nina SimoneRead
How do you explain what it feels like to get on the stage and make poetry that you know sinks into the hearts and souls of people who are unable to express it
Interpretation
The quote reflects the profound emotional experience of sharing poetry with an audience.
Nina Simone emphasizes the deep connection between the artist and the audience, highlighting the power of poetry to resonate with listeners on a profound emotional level. She articulates the challenge of conveying the unique feeling of performing art that touches the hearts and souls of individuals, many of whom may struggle to articulate their own feelings.
In practice
In a speech during a poetry reading event.
Sometimes I sound like gravel, and sometimes I sound like coffee and cream.
Jazz is a white term to define black people. My music is black classical music.
I only knew classical music, which to me was the only true music. The only way I could survive at the bar was to mix the classical music with popular songs, and that meant I had to sing. What happened was that I discovered I had a voice plus the talent to mix classical music together with more popular songs, which at the time I detested.
Everything that happened to me as a child involved music. It was part of everyday life, as automatic as breathing.
I didn't get interested in music. It was a gift from God.
This may be a dream, but I'll say it anyway: I was supposed to be married last year, and I bought a gown. When I meet Nelson Mandela, I shall put on this gown and have the train of it removed and put aside, and kiss the ground that he walks on and then kiss his feet.
I have always kept one end in view, namely ... to conduct a well-regulated church music to the honour of God.
The two most important tools an architect has are the eraser in the drawing room and the sledge hammer on the construction site.
Literature... is the union of suffering with the instinct for form.
What I do believe is theatre is a medium with a peculiar ability to air vital issues.
If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry.
I've always envied people who compose music or paint, because they don't have to be bothered with the sort of crude mess that language normally is, in everyday life and in the way we use it.
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