Dr. Sam Waymon composer/civil rights activist wrote this special
Juneteenth anthem to inspire black, beige, brown and tan people forward
defending their soul adrift.
Dr. Samuel L. Waymon, an award-winning composer, musician, singer,
pianist, arranger/producer, has composed music for Broadway and
off-Broadway for the late Joe Papp, for a documentary film, “Duke
Ellington Boulevard” and was a lead actor in America’s first Black soap
opera entitle “Personal Problems.” He has also shared the concert stage
with Miles Davis, Odetta, Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, Quincy Jones,
Donny Hathaway, Phyllis Hyman, and Max Roach. He also was the manager,
confidante, organist and best friend to his sister, Nina Simone.
They played for the King of Morocco and the President of
France, Francois Mitterrand. Sam also composed a song for the Academy
Award winning film “Philadelphia” directed by Jonathan Demme that stared
Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks. His talents also include the music to
the movie “Ganja and Hess” directed and written by Bill Gunn of which
Sam also had a starring role. This film won the Cannes Film Festival
Award as one of the Ten Best Films of the Decade in 1973 and is now in
the Museum of Modern Art’s Library Archives. Look for his latest
composition entitled “You Got to Learn” that can be heard in Spike Lee’s
new film “Da Sweet Blood of Jesus” (a remake of Ganja and Hess).
He
worked on the documentary film, “The Amazing Nina Simone” directed by
Jeff Lieberman. Sam has written the score to the silent film HELL BOUND
TRAIN (Library of Congress) written in 1932 currently out on DVD and
various media outlets. He is currently writing the score to a new
feature documentary film, “Secrets of the Hollow” (an original film by
Alice T. Crowe and Alicia Crowe scheduled for national release in 2018.