Samora Pinderhughes Shares Powerful Salvador Dali-Inspired Video for Mental Health Awareness Month

Musician and activist Samora Pinderhughes was born a mixed-race kid in the Bay Area and created his very own unique style of music: a blend of jazz and hip hop that's a combination of striking intimacy and carefully crafted, radically honest lyrics with lush, immersive music, maximalist visual storytelling and high levels of concept. The Juilliard-trained pianist/vocalist has collaborated and performed with many artists across boundaries and scenes including Common, Robert Glasper, Sara Bareilles, Daveed Diggs, Herbie Hancock, Christian Scott, Jose James and more.

Today, Pinderhughes shares his deeply personal video for "Inertia" to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Month. "Inertia" was written in collaboration with and produced by Jack DeBoe and is part of their VENUS project featuring songs about the realities of depression, anxiety, labor, miscommunication, and identity.

Watch "Inertia" below!

"Inertia" is a portrait of a person stuck in patterns of depression and anxiety: he's grown so intimate with the feelings that he speaks to it and tries to negotiate with it, and tries to change. The video, directed by Sadé Clacken Joseph, visualizes the intense weight one feels while battling with depression and is inspired by both the artworks of Salvador Dali and Ingmar Bergman's film The Seventh Seal, which depicts a chess game with death. "Inertia" features Pinderhughes as a boy haunted by the specter of death in the room, which starts to drive him crazy and causes problems in his relationship with his partner. He starts to lie to those closest to him about what he's feeling, pretending that all is okay.

"If you are feeling low and having trouble getting out of your head or getting out of the bed, please know you are not alone," notes Samora. "Don't feel ashamed, or guilty, or blame yourself. It is just part of life sometimes and that's okay! Just getting through the day is enough, and then the next day is another chance to discover more and try again. Find those who can support you, and please do tell them what you're going through. We all need to support and love one another."

Pinderhughes also recently released his Black Spring EP. Inspired by the revolutionary energy of 1960's songwriters, the music reflects the questions and anger that people are feeling during these times of uncertainty and chaos. The title Black Spring describes an energy of uprising: a time for action, a time for flourishing and moving forward with revolutionary spirit. Each of the four songs on the EP delves into a different aspect of what we're dealing with right now in 2020, and the truths we have to speak up about:



• "Hold That Weight" asks the question: "In times when people are struggling, what does it really look like to help carry their burdens?" and is accompanied by the powerful short film delving into the work that goes into trying to re-acclimate to home life and society when released from prison. Watch here: https://youtu.be/w237dUE1PlQ.

• "Kill War" is inspired by Bob Dylan's "Masters of War," written from the perspective of a soldier that addresses the current administration's warmongering policies.

• "Blood (feat. Lhasa de Sela)" samples late singer Lhasa de Sela's song "Soon This Space Will Be Too Small" and is about younger generations living through this time and what the threats of climate change feels like.

• "For Those Lost, For Those Taken" was written for all those murdered by police brutality and state violence, and specifically written in honor of and dedication to Sandra Bland. The song is being shared with the blessing of Sandra's family as we near the 5th anniversary of her murder by Texas police.

Samora has increasingly sought to inspire solidarity among communities dealing with different oppressive circumstances, particularly around immigrant detention and mass incarceration - seeing the similarities both in lived experience and structurally within the carceral state. He is a member of Ryan Coogler and Ava DuVernay's Blackout for Human Rights, Common's nonprofit Imagine Justice, Unbound Philanthropy & Art For Justice, among others.

In addition to creating new music and his activist work, Samora is currently pursuing a PHD in Creative Practice and Critical Inquiry under mentor Vijay Iyer at Harvard University. He also set to headline Carnegie Hall in May 2021, in conjunction with his upcoming The Healing Project. The show will be produced by actress, playwright, teacher, and author Anna Deavere Smith and revered artist Glenn Ligon.

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