Nina Cries Power

Hozier and Mavis Staples

Hozier's Nina Cries Power taps something deep and universal. It’s a stirring testament to the power of art, activism, and spirit.

I’ve seen the video plenty of times. But watching it again today, in the moment we face, it brought tears. I’m not sure exactly what kind of tears. Not joy or sadness. Something else. I think maybe it’s the song’s roll call, like calling on our mighty creative ancestors for help.

It’s uplifting but also a fight song, a solidarity song, which as I type this seems the most needed kind of Future Music.

If this song came out today (it’s from 2018) it would be the anthem we’ve been waiting for.

So pretend it came out today.

It’s not the waking, it’s the rising.

The video is striking in its emotion and simplicity. It shows various long-time activists listening and reacting to the song for the first time. They are mostly Irish but US civil rights icon Mavis Staples - along with Nina Simone, Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye and others who are given call-outs in the song lyrics - brings it back across the Atlantic and establishes those threads of our common cause.

As Hozier has said:

This song was intended as a thank you note to the spirit and legacy of protest; to the artists who imbued their work with the vigour of dissent, and a reflection on the importance of that tradition in the context of the rights, and lives, we enjoy today.

He has also talked about how Ireland got to where it is today. While Ireland has often been inspired by the US, I propose that Ireland can serve as Americans’ inspiration now. Especially as it’s a rare bastion of enlightened liberalism in a darkening world order, a country that transformed itself largely through the force of cultural power.

Ireland has undergone a socio-cultural sea change, the results of which will benefit generations to come. We are witness to a new Ireland waking to the consciousness of itself; a kinder, more inclusive nation. This video is an attempt to acknowledge just a handful of those who have fought for this new Ireland, and whose work continues to inspire me.

Here’s a live studio version you don’t want to miss, especially for Mavis Staples.

And for DC folks, here’s a 2019 version by the choir at All Souls Unitarian. On the spot where my parents were married in the late 50s. By James Reeb, the minister who would die in Selma trying to help MLK’s efforts. Life is mysterious.

Also check out the great Cry Power podcast series, a collab between Hozier and Global Citizen. It's an amazing series of chats with artists and activists about action and changing the world.

---

---