ABSTRACT

I evaluated the song performances of Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, and Nina Simone using an Afrocentric paradigm of aesthetic analysis that is grounded in African culture. According to Molefi Asante (1998), “Afrocentricity” means “placing African ideals at the center of any analysis that involves African culture and behavior” (p. 2). This conception provided a cultural framework for the cultural/artistic continuities in Smith, Holiday, and Simone’s songs that could be discussed. In this chapter, I explain an Afrocentric methodological approach by discussing (1) Afrocentric principles and practices; (2) Kariamu Welsh Asante’s (1994) aesthetic conceptualization of an Afrocentric and Pan-African aesthetic-Nzuri; (3) Welsh Asante’s (1985) seven aesthetic senses; (4) data collection; and (5) the two-part method.