I intend to live as well as I can this year. Anything I want to participate in, I’m there. The chance to start came in November when sahn announced a performance at the Apollo Music Café for February. I can’t jet to California for a weekend show yet, but New York is essentially up the street. Within an hour I bought my show ticket and booked a flight. Anyone I want to see, I will see. I didn’t need to wait for the calendar to change to act on my intention.
Delight is one of my words for the year and the feeling for this trip. I made the most of my 42 hours in New York. All I need are my feet and a Metro Card to enjoy myself. My feet took me 10 blocks up Lenox to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Mr. Anthony kindly showed me around and explained the cosmogram in the Langston Hughes Lobby. I viewed “JIMMY! God’s Black Revolutionary Mouth”, filled with personal papers, first edition books, and other artifacts.
Back outside my feet found the subway and my Metro Card took me down to Brooklyn for lunch at Stella’s. Jerk wings, coconut mussels, braised oxtail with collard greens and mac’n cheese. Another word of the year fits here, delectable. The ride back to Harlem included a brother performing “What You Won’t Do For Love” and “Footsteps In the Dark” on the A train around 4:30 p.m. Sir, you were fantastic. My excitement for sahn’s sold out show made me jittery. Those nerves are how I arrived early enough to acquire merch and choose a seat right in front of the stage.
How do I describe this musical experience? Intimate, beautiful, captivating, fantastic. The set list seemed to follow sahn’s path over the last few years. It is a privilege to hear her recite “In the early afternoon” at the shows open. Lines are familiar to anyone who has seen her visual album. In full it is gorgeous and heartbreaking. An all-encompassing recollection of a dear one’s transition and the waves of emotion that crash in.
Deep love, loss, longing, and getting through the days flow through ‘the mornings’. “What’s the point in trying to hide something that everybody knows…” she doesn’t owe us her vulnerability, but it’s deeply appreciated. Like all great music, it reflects the artist’s experience and connects with the audience and their varied experiences. The first half of the show included “Wake up my love”, “Better with you”, “The mornings”, and “Green Tea” mixed with “Officially Missing You”. That last pairing, masterful.
I mouthed along to all the words, nobody wanted to hear me try to sing. sahn’s superb vocals filled the space. Clear, clean, runs, and range! Sonically, melodically, she is excellent. Finally, I got to see it all myself! I loved story time during the show. Giving background that plenty of us could relate to, we cope the best we can. The second half of the show was a back and forth between what exists and what is to come musically.
“AngelsxDemons” and “Strong friends” familiar companions from ‘the mornings’. “Grace notes” received the addition of “someone who sees me, knows me, heals me”. Abilities I also would appreciate in a person. “Dive bar”, “Same old me”, “The garden”, “Change your life”, and “Sumimasen”, friends we are in for a treat with her next project. The crowd was not ready for the evening to end when sahn let us know she was at her last song. She received a well-deserved standing ovation as she exited the stage. Also, a lot of whooping and hollering when she returned to choruses of “Encore!” and graced us with one more, very new, song.
sahn’s show was the perfect start to my musical year. “Change your life” is right on time for me and I got to tell her. I let her know that she’s in my business but that I appreciate it. Maybe it’s because we’re the same age, despite very different life experiences, our age group is on a similar path in self-discovery and development. Such is the work of a musical alchemist, sharing as they live, learn, and work, ultimately helping us all on our individual soul journeys.
I see a thread through “AngelsxDemons”, “high speed meditation”, “Same old me”, and “Change your life”. Meeting and accepting all sides of yourself, knowing which part should lead at any given time. Taking time to focus in and find path and purpose. We might fall back into old patterns, growth isn’t linear but we have to keep pushing forward and give ourselves grace. Question how we treat ourselves and root out what weighs us down, the garden must be cleared to see new growth.
I am constantly transfixed by the love she sings about. The love she has known and still knows. It’s one where I imagine you are protected, respected, adored, and cared for. It endures, spanning time and space. I’ve been reading about that type of connection. I’m grateful to know it exists and that a beautiful, smart, and thoughtful person knows it. My heart aches over the physical disruption of that love, it simply feels deeply unfair.
sahn opens her mind and her heart to find the threads that connect all of us. Simone, thank you for your beautiful spirit. Thank you for your art, your music, your vulnerability. You are engaging, funny, and warm. It was a pleasure meeting you. Dwight Jordan was right. You were the perfect choice for the month of Black History and love. Love of self and of others in its aware and full form.
