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Subject: "Summer of Soul (2021, Questlove)" Previous topic | Next topic
c71
Member since Jan 15th 2008
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Sat Feb-13-21 01:40 PM

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"Summer of Soul (2021, Questlove)"


  

          

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k99XO-UE5AQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj8l52IU4ZI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiEdJ4OzQVI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5Tb6tTK4io


https://www.okayplayer.com/culture/summer-of-soul-review-questlove-sundance.html

‘Summer Of Soul’ Celebrates Black Joy Amid The Pain Of The ’60s (Review)

CULTURE - 1 WEEK AGO


JOURDAIN SEARLES

Jourdain Searles is a writer, comedian, and podcaster who hails…
'Summer Of Soul' Celebrates Black Joy Amid The Pain Of The '60s
Photo Credit: Sundance Institute

Questlove’s directorial debut, Summer of Soul, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, shows how Black music from across the diaspora helped make the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival such a historical moment.

In America, history is often filtered through a white lens, leaving pivotal events in Black history out of focus. Our civil rights leaders were villainized during their time, but that truth has been obscured by white revisionism. We are seeing that now with the media’s coverage of Black Lives Matter protests, whose legacy is being shaped by white newscasters and journalists feigning ignorance about their importance. With social media, we are fighting historical revisionism in real-time, pushing back against a resurgence of violently racist narratives that burn with an intensity that hasn’t been seen since the news coverage of the Rodney King riots in the ’90s. The exceedingly militarized police force came out in full force in Ferguson, Missouri, while Black people joined together to demand justice for their murder of Mike Brown. Across the country, from Staten Island to Texas to Kentucky, our people have been murdered and we are painted as the villains for demanding accountability. Many of the films to come out during this cultural era have been addressing this pain directly. While this is important, we have been sorely missing films that both address that pain and provide a sense of levity and optimism.

It is in this time that we have been given the gift of Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised), a musical documentary incorporating the long-lost footage of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. Footage of the festival, originally filmed by the late Hal Tulchin, sat in a basement for 50 years before Ahmir-Khalib Thompson (better known as The Roots’ Questlove) retrieved it and began crafting it into a documentary. Thompson seamlessly applied his musical prowess in punctuating iconic performances with talking-head interviews and vital news footage that puts the festival in its proper historical context. Coming to us over a year after Sydney Pollack’s remastered Aretha Franklin musical documentary Amazing Grace, Summer of Soul is an even larger reminder of the jewels of history that are hidden from us due to production complications, a false narrative of disinterest, or a combination of both.

In the blazing hot summer of 1969, over 300,000 people gathered for the historic Harlem Cultural Festival in Mount Morris Park in Harlem. The event was held over six weekends, spanning from June 19 to August 24, and included a wide swathe of Black music that reached across genre in an attempt to encapsulate the diversity of the diaspora. On the final weekend of the festival Woodstock was held, a coincidence that would go on to overshadow the event that was later referred to as “Black Woodstock.” But the Harlem Cultural Festival had many aspects that further divested it from its white counterpart, chief of which was its deeply communal atmosphere that encouraged Black people of all ages to attend. As you watch the film, it plays like an expansive family reunion with a warmth that manages to touch every soul there.


The festival was produced and hosted by Tony Lawrence, who was a lounge singer and promoter with endless charisma. Despite him being an instrumental part of this historic event, there are surprisingly few resources on Lawrence and his career. He is remembered in the film by the people who knew him, highlighting his charm and hardworking spirit. He got permission to hold the festival from New York City Mayor John Lindsay, who is described as a “liberal Republican” who cared about the Black community. Lawrence also secured Maxwell House Coffee as the official sponsor for the event. Lawrence seemed to only receive pushback from the NYPD, who initially refused to provide security for the event. Luckily, the Black Panthers were there to step in and make sure everyone was safe.

It’s difficult to describe the experience of watching Summer of Soul. With its music, dancing, and togetherness, the film is a celebration of Black joy in a decade where it was hard to come by. But it’s more than a history lesson — it’s a crash course in Black music, highlighting how foundational it has been to the culture at large. The festival reached across genres, highlighting pop, R&B, soul, gospel, African music, Cuban music, and the early iterations of psychedelic music and funk. The festival included performances by giants like Gladys Knight & the Pips, BB King, Sonny Sharrock, David Ruffin, Sly and the Family Stone, and Stevie Wonder. Wonder is actually the first musician shown in the film, the legendary artist dressed in a stylish yellow and chocolate ensemble, singing and playing the drums. As Wonder is one of the few artists from the festival that is still with us, it’s fascinating to see the then-19-year-old there right at the cusp of a turning point in his career and identity as an artist. Being at the festival was a statement for both the performers and the audience, all joined together to celebrate Blackness in a way never afforded to them before. There, they had the space to embrace each other in an environment conceived specifically for them. An exhilarating performance by the legendary Nina Simone manages to embody the feelings and tone of the whole affair, grounding the festival in political and cultural power.

Summer Of Soul captures how the Harlem Cultural Festival was a breathtaking event of community healing, coming only a year after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the riots that followed. The event arrived on the cusp of a widespread shift in Black identity. Afros and dashikis were coming into style. “Negro” became an outdated term and was replaced by “Black” in major publications. This is the time that birthed the mantra: “Black is beautiful.” And for perhaps the first time in history, we were able to believe it.



__


Jourdain Searles is a writer, comedian, and podcaster who hails from Georgia and resides in Queens. She has written for Bitch Media, Thrillist, The Ringer, and MTV News. As a comic, she has performed stand-up in venues all over New York City, including Union Hall, The People Improv’s Theater, UCB East, and The Creek and the Cave. She can be found on Twitter.

  

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Topic Outline
Subject Author Message Date ID
Building 'Summer of Soul' Around Awe-Inspiring Musical Moment
Feb 14th 2021
1
Questlove’s ‘Summer of Soul’ Sundance Top Prize for Documentarie...
Feb 16th 2021
2
Sly Stone doc up next
Feb 22nd 2021
3
YES!
Jul 16th 2021
10
his masterclass also dropped today
Feb 25th 2021
4
trailer
Jun 26th 2021
5
CBS Sunday Morning feature
Jun 27th 2021
6
thanks a mil!!!
Jun 28th 2021
7
Made me melancholy
Jul 02nd 2021
8
I'm curious... why? Around what?
Jul 16th 2021
11
this was a great watch
Jul 15th 2021
9
Movie of the year frfr
Jul 21st 2021
12
I loved it
Jul 24th 2021
13
this is so fire. i'm only halfway through. ?uest put his foot in it.
Jul 30th 2021
14

c71
Member since Jan 15th 2008
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Sun Feb-14-21 11:49 AM

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1. "Building 'Summer of Soul' Around Awe-Inspiring Musical Moment"
In response to Reply # 0


  

          

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEnQCnPnbis

  

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c71
Member since Jan 15th 2008
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Tue Feb-16-21 02:34 PM

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2. "Questlove’s ‘Summer of Soul’ Sundance Top Prize for Documentarie..."
In response to Reply # 0


  

          

https://www.okayplayer.com/music/questlove-summer-of-soul-wins-top-documentary-prize-sundance.html

Questlove’s ‘Summer of Soul’ Wins Sundance Film Festival’s Top Prize for Documentaries

ZO

Zo is a staff writer at Okayplayer where he covers…

Questlove's 'Summer of Soul' Wins Sundance Film Festival's Top Prize for Documentaries


Summer of Soul unearths 50-year-old footage from the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival.


Questlove has hit another career milestone. The Roots drummer’s directorial debut, Summer of Soul, topped nine other films to win the U.S. Grand Jury Prize for documentaries at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised,) unearths 50-year-old footage from the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, also known as, the “Black Woodstock.” It features performances from Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, Sly & The Family Stone, Nina Simone, and more. “It has always been a dream of mine to direct films and telling this story has truly been an amazing experience,” said the freshly-minted director in a statement. Questlove also offered a far less formal response to the documentary’s win on Twitter (see below.)

“The most astounding discovery I had doing this film was that all these great talents gathered and gave their time and their energy and their creativity to this festival. This is three months before Woodstock happened. And it was recorded and documented and when it was over, just like that, it was done in a flash. Nobody cared,” said Questlove in a brief breakdown of the project for Sundance. Summer of Soul also took home Sundance’s Audience Award for documentaries at this year’s festival.

  

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c71
Member since Jan 15th 2008
13927 posts
Mon Feb-22-21 08:07 PM

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3. "Sly Stone doc up next"
In response to Reply # 0


  

          

https://www.okayplayer.com/music/questlove-is-making-the-sly-stone-documentary-we-deserve.html

  

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spades
Member since Mar 22nd 2006
44256 posts
Fri Jul-16-21 10:07 AM

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10. "YES!"
In response to Reply # 3


  

          

I dig this lane, for ? and if ANYONE deserves a biopic, it's Sly.

********************************

Get Out The Room!
http://getouttheroom.podomatic.com
@fakewilliamkatt

"You probably wouldn't worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do!" - Olin Miller

  

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howisya
Member since Nov 09th 2002
39983 posts
Thu Feb-25-21 04:02 PM

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4. "his masterclass also dropped today"
In response to Reply # 0
Thu Feb-25-21 04:03 PM by howisya

  

          

which is funny because his posts here in the early 2000s were like a masterclass for me

i am looking forward to this doc, though

  

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c71
Member since Jan 15th 2008
13927 posts
Sat Jun-26-21 01:24 PM

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5. "trailer"
In response to Reply # 0


  

          


https://youtu.be/slFiJpAxZyQ

https://www.okayplayer.com/music/watch-official-trailer-questlove-summer-of-soul-documentary-video.html

Watch The Exhilarating Official Trailer for Questlove’s ‘Summer of Soul’ Documentary
MUSIC - 1 WEEK AGO

ZO

Zo is a staff writer at Okayplayer

Summer of Soul is set to simultaneously premiere in theaters and via Hulu on July 2nd.

Weeks out from finally hitting the big screen, an official trailer for the highly anticipated Summer of Soul documentary has arrived.

Extending the teaser’s criminally brief runtime, the new Summer of Soul trailer showcases even more archival footage from Questlove‘s directorial debut along with some of the film’s testimonials. “Something very important was happening. It wasn’t just about the music,” says soul legend Gladys Knight as a glimpse from her electric performance rolls. Nina Simone, Sly Stone, B.B. King, Mahalia Jackson, and a number of Knight’s trailblazing contemporaries can also be seen in the exhilarating two-minute trailer of a film that will offer the best (and for many, the first ) look yet at the fabled 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival.

Cut from more than 45 hours of found footage (literally left lying in a damp basement) documenting the six-week-long event series, Summer of Soul (…Or When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised,) may have been intended for a small circle of Questlove’s fellow music history obsessives. But after taking home top prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and sparking a bidding war that led to the highest sale of a documentary in the festival’s history, it became clear the director’s audience was far broader than the initial estimate. “I thought this was going to be a quiet little arthouse film,” Questlove said in a recent interview with Rolling Stone. “I’m on a group chat with Just Blaze and DJ Premier and Swiss Beatz and J. Cole. 25 of my luminaries. So it was like, ‘If Jazzy Jeff and Peanut Butter Wolf think is cool, then I’ll feel OK.’ That’s who I thought my shit was for. God had other plans,” the newly-minted director added.

Watch the official trailer for Questlove’s Summer of Soul documentary below. Catch it in theaters and streaming via Hulu on July 2nd.

  

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howisya
Member since Nov 09th 2002
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Sun Jun-27-21 11:05 AM

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6. "CBS Sunday Morning feature"
In response to Reply # 0


  

          

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgtyuUyJjW4

  

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c71
Member since Jan 15th 2008
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Mon Jun-28-21 06:04 PM

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7. "thanks a mil!!!"
In response to Reply # 6


  

          

yep!!!

  

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rdhull
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Fri Jul-02-21 09:59 PM

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8. "Made me melancholy "
In response to Reply # 0


  

          

I know it was a celebration but …

  

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spades
Member since Mar 22nd 2006
44256 posts
Fri Jul-16-21 10:07 AM

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11. "I'm curious... why? Around what?"
In response to Reply # 8


  

          

********************************

Get Out The Room!
http://getouttheroom.podomatic.com
@fakewilliamkatt

"You probably wouldn't worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do!" - Olin Miller

  

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Options
Member since Nov 19th 2009
1013 posts
Thu Jul-15-21 09:31 AM

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9. "this was a great watch"
In response to Reply # 0


          

top-shelf edutainment here. hearing from both the artists who performed and people who were in the crowd was great. deserves to be seen by a lot of people.

  

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Bambino Grande
Member since Mar 14th 2019
965 posts
Wed Jul-21-21 11:19 AM

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12. "Movie of the year frfr"
In response to Reply # 0


          

  

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OKdamn
Member since Dec 04th 2010
1314 posts
Sat Jul-24-21 09:25 AM

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13. "I loved it"
In response to Reply # 0


          

  

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poetx
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58856 posts
Fri Jul-30-21 09:18 PM

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14. "this is so fire. i'm only halfway through. ?uest put his foot in it. "
In response to Reply # 0


  

          

that opening w/ stevie. dayum. that montage, punctuated by the stevie on the drums? mannn...


and the gospel segment in the middle? mahalia jackson and mavis staples?

this is so good.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

  

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