Review: Summer Of Soul (Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Image courtesy of Hulu.

 A piece of music and cultural history that has apparently been locked away in a basement for more than 50 years, musician Questlove's chronicle of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival is an eye opening and joyous barrage of music as well as a look at a moment when American culture was undergoing a transformation. At one point in the film, a Black New York Times writer describes how she convinced the paper's editor to stop using the word "negro" in headlines and to substitute it with "Black." Questlove's film feels like an exuberant celebration of that switch at a time populated with tragedy - Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy's deaths, the war in Vietnam, etc.

Apparently, TV director Hal Tulchin shot 47 reels of the concert, but little of it was seen at the time by anyone who didn't attend the concert itself. Its producers tried to sell it as the "Black Woodstock," especially after the "Woodstock" film became an enormous success the following year. But there were no takers. So, for years, the footage of some of these amazing performances went unseen.

The concerts, which took place over the course of several weeks during the summer of 1969, feature a smorgasbord of talent across various musical styles and cultures - the revolutionary funk of Sly and the Family Stone, the haunted stylings of Nina Simone, the pop songs of The Fifth Dimension, African-styled music by Hugh Masekela, soul from Gladys Knight and the Pips, gospel by The Staple Singers and Mahalia Jackson and percussion by Puerto Rican musician Ray Barretto. 

The concert footage does a great job of capturing the energy of the performances - there's a drum solo by Stevie Wonder that will blow your mind - and the political vibe of the concerts - Simone gives a spirited performance of "To Be Young, Gifted and Black." Questlove intersperses interviews in the present with the concert scenes - everyone from Chris Rock and Lin Manuel Miranda to concertgoers pop up to weigh in, but one of the most compelling interviews is with The Fifth Dimension's Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr., who discuss how many people thought their band was white due to their pop leanings, and how they viewed the concert as an opportunity to connect with a Black audience.

The film would make for a great double feature with the 1973 documentary "Wattstax," which portrayed a benefit concert in Watts to commemorate the anniversary of the 1965 riots in that Los Angeles neighborhood. Both feature tremendous performances by predominately Black musicians and celebrate African-American culture. 

And sadly, both festivals were mostly overlooked at the time they were held, got little attention from the media and weren't mainstream cultural touchstones like Monterey Pop or Woodstock. "Summer of Soul" is an attempt to right that wrong - and a glorious concert film featuring some of the best musicians of the late 1960s. I'd highly recommend it.