NEW YORK (AP) – Questlove responded with incredulous disbelief when he heard about the footage.
A historic 1969 Harlem concert series that he had never heard of? With Stevie Wonder? With Nina Simone? With Sly and the Family Stone, BB King and the Staples Singers?
“I was like, ‘Yes, right.’ I know everything that happened musically during that period and I never heard of it in my life. ‘Get out of here’, ”recalled Ahmir“ Questlove ”Thompson in an interview. “So they came back and showed me the footage and I was astounded.”
That was the beginning of what would become “Summer of Soul (… or When the Revolution Could Not Be Television)”, a time capsule from a concert film at a historic festival, but largely forgotten. Known as “Black Woodstock”, the festival took place during the same summer as Woodstock – and only 100 miles away – but received much less attention.
“Summer of Soul”, Questlove’s directorial debut, finally reveals a remarkable little-seen musical event. It debuted Thursday night at the Sundance Film Festival, where it generated immediate acclaim and countless dance parties at home for the festival’s virtual goers – a party that Questlove extended with a post-party DJ set broadcast live.
Like the drummer of Roots, the band leader of the show “Tonight”, a sought-after producer and a self-declared “music nerd”, Questlove’s ubiquitous presence in music often turns into film projects. But “Summer of Soul” is his first time driving – his first “jaw”, as he calls it, using Philadelphia slang – even though he never looked for it.
“Are you asking if this was on my wish list bingo card?” says Questlove smiling at Zoom.
“I was thinking about the hands of a more experienced director, it could change someone’s life,” he says. “I knew I was watching something special. But I got over my fear. I will often go through the imposter syndrome. I realized that now is my chance to change someone’s life and tell a story that has almost been erased. “
On six Sundays in 1969, more than 300,000 people gathered at Mount Harlem. Morris Park for a celebration of soul, gospel, funk and, above all, black identity at a crucial point in African American culture. The Harlem Cultural Festival – “like a rose coming out of concrete”, recalls one participant – happened a year after the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. Rev. Jesse Jackson is seen speaking passionately from the stage: “When we are most concerned with moon than with men, someone better wake up. ”
The shows were filmed by television veteran Hal Tulchin, but he found that no Hollywood broadcaster or producer was interested in his 40 hours of footage. Tulchin continued to try to find a home for the filming until his death in 2017.
“Literally, if we had allowed a few more months to pass, many of those shots would have been thrown away,” says Questlove. “Hal Tulchin had been trying to sell this footage for years, years, decades and decades. No one would take the bait. His wife said: I know some of his stuff is in the basement, but I’m about to empty the basement and get rid of it. Who knew you could get Stevie Wonder so cheap, or Sly and the Family Stone? “
The material is really jaw-dropping. Simone, perhaps for the first time, performs “To Be Young, Gifted and Black”. Sly and the Family Stone, the only act to play Woodstock and Harlem in 1969, plays “I Want to Take You Higher”. Hugh Masekela does “Grazing in the Grass”. Mahalia Jackson and Mavis Staples sing an amazing gospel duet.
“The more I watched, especially with gospel performances, these were just a few of the original, documented and raw gospel performances that I have seen in my life,” says Questlove. “I was like, Hey, is it that easy to just erase our story? Is it that easy, in the blink of an eye? Could it just be lost? That scene, alone, with Mahalia Jackson and Mavis Staples, that almost went to waste. That was the first thing on my mind: how easy is it for the story to be erased? And why does this always happen mainly with blacks? “
Questlove had initially focused on purely music. His first cut was 3 hours and 25 minutes. “Amateur time,” jokes Questlove, whose final cut – on sale at Sundance – lasts 117 minutes. But while he worked on the film during the protests of the Black Lives Matter, during the pandemic and in the accounts that followed George Floyd’s death, the scope of “Summer of Soul” was broadened.
“The aim of this festival was to keep people’s minds busy and give them something to look forward to in the summer of 1969. To see this happening in real time in 2019, I realized that we had to delve deeper into the role of the artist,” says Questlove. “As time went by, I started to see this film in a totally different way. If the events of 2020 had not taken place, this film would not be the film it is now. The parallels were too much to ignore. “
___
Follow AP film writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP