acropolis reflectionsacropolis is one of those places i’d seen throughout my lifetime in books and pictures – an iconic vision of ancient histories and western civilization. i was fortunate enough to visit the site during my weeklong stay in athens and just before heading to istanbul. “awesome” is the only word that comes to mind when you realize you are standing in front of the intricately detailed and grand marble architecture of those who ruled this part of the world for so many thousands of years before our time. which of those leaders would have thought that an african woman who called herself a jazz vocalist would be standing here now? had any of them been to africa? and what would they think of my music if they passed through the doors of athens’ happening half note jazz club tonight? standing in a place like this makes me wonder about one’s connection to humanity, and my time in greece has reminded me of the fundamental truth of humanity: We are all the same. Whether we are descendants of the hellenic empire or daughters of the great kings of the bunyoro-kitaara kingdom of east africa, we are all the same.

later that night when the crowd fell to a hushed and smoky lull of anticipation just before our final athenian encore, i remembered that truth. and as i sang my interpretation of the song “feeling good” (a song i first heard nina simone cover), i prayed that the leaders of today’s world might also remember our universally human truth of sameness. i thought of mwai kibaki, raila odinga, barack obama, hillary clinton, the george bushes, nicolas sarkozy, pervez musharraf, mahmoud abbas, shimon peres, yoweri museveni and paul kagame. indeed, “it’s a new day and freedom is now,” i sang. perhaps the spirits of acropolis in some way reminded me of my voice that night. obama says it takes one voice to change a room. i hope i did.