film strut: "Soul Power" Zaire '74 Documentary

zlatorog

possibly a , I checked this documentary out at the Berlin film festival last week and was totally floored by some of the performances. It is composed of leftover footage from the filming of "When We Were Kings" and documents the music festival "Zaire '74" that was intended to coincide with the Ali/Foreman fight. As a result of being pieced together from footage, there didn't seem to be an effort to make the movie flow (wouldn't have been possible) or tell a clear story (no overdubbed narration, etc.) but rather let the images and sounds speak for themselves. Made me want to revisit "When We Were Kings" in the immediate future. Highlights included Bill Withers "Hope She'll Be Happier", the Spinners "One of a Kind (Love Affair)" , Tabu Ley Rochereau performing "Seli Ja" on what appeared to be a sweltering hot street corner in Kinshasa. Obviously all of the Ali, James Brown and Don King clips shred. Anyone else checked this out?synopsis from the press kit:

SYNOPSISIn 1974, the most celebrated American R&B acts of the time came together with themost renowned musical groups in Southern Africa for a 12-hour, three-night longconcert held in Kinshasa, Zaire. The dream-child of Hugh Masekela and StewartLevine, this music festival became a reality when they convinced boxing promoter DonKing to combine the event with ???The Rumble in the Jungle,??? the epic fight betweenMuhammad Ali and George Foreman, previously chronicled in the Academy Awardwinningdocumentary WHEN WE WERE KINGS.SOUL POWER is a verit?? documentary about this legendary music festival (dubbed???Zaire ???74???), and it depicts the experiences and performances of such musicalluminaries as James Brown, BB King, Bill Withers, Celia Cruz, among a host of others.At the peak of their talents and the height of their careers, these artists were inspired bythis return to their African roots, as well as the enthusiasm of the Zairian audience, togive the performances of their lives. The concert has achieved mythologicalsignificance as the definitive Africa(n)-American musical event of the 20th Century.SOUL POWER is crafted from the extensive ???outtakes??? that remained after makingWHEN WE WERE KINGS, which documented the epic title fight, but relegated themusic festival to a small, supporting role. The ???outtakes??? have remained vaulted for thepast 34 years, until now. Lensed primarily by celebrated cinematographers AlbertMaysles, Paul Goldsmith, Kevin Keating and Roderick Young, SOUL POWER finallyprovides today???s audience the opportunity to experience this historic musical event in allof its magnificent, filmed glory.

young_cream

wow this looks great - thx

the_dL

wow this looks great - thx

DJ_WubWub

Thanks for the heads up

if you haven't seen this

Soul to Soul Documentary

from IMDB
I would like to say that Soul To Soul is a very great documentary. I have it on DVD. I had it on home video at one time. The only thing I must comment on is on the DVD version of the movie. Roberta Flack's performance and footage has been removed. She requested to have her footage be taken out. Other than that, I am very proud to have it in my DVD collection. The audio commentaries were excellent. This DVD is a must have, period. The Voices of East Harlem, The Staple Singers, Les McCann and Eddie Harris, Santana, Ike & Tina Turner, and many others did an amazing job in the film. The scenery was wonderful, too. Seeing the villages and the people of Ghana. That it is a must see. You will not be sorry.

I would recommend watching it a few times and definately watch it with "Les McCanns commentary' pure comedy gold. He is one naturally funny dude. Some of the comments he makes about Eddie Harris and his band cracked me up. eg "see that drum kit. We filled it with weed for our return trip and got stoned for a year"

bassie

I saw it at last year's Toronto International Film Festival - this is what I thought:

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It was pretty good. It is the extra footage from When We Were Kings. SP???s director got the rights from Leon Gast, WWWK???s director and one of SP???s producers

The movie basically felt like a big tease, only scratching the surface of what is hundreds of hours of footage. Because Zaire74 was supposed to the concert, the fight and a movie of it all, filming started right in New York in the planning stages. I don???t know how much the guy was kidding, but in the Q&A he mentioned seven DVDs worth. He just doesn???t have the money to put it all out, so anyone looking to invest...do us all a favour and get in touch with him!

Everything seemed to not get past the introduction stage...be it the insane logistics of getting people over to Africa, the flight (which featured a Celia Cruz and Fania All-Stars jam and 35k pounds of extra luggage), the stage set-up in Kinshasa, Kinshasa itself...not to mention the cast of dozens, including the Liberian investors??? front man who could probably have a movie just about him.

Also just wasn???t enough music! There was one performance per artist and the sound was just incredible. I will admit to getting all choked up and teary at Bill Withers??? ???Hope She???ll Be Happier??? ??? it was nothing short of amazing. In addition to that, highlight performances for me were Big Black, James Brown and The Spinners. Even BB King???s "The Thrill is Gone" sounded fresh! Ali was breath-taking as always, a quick backstage scene with Miriam Makeba spoke volumes about her amazing character and the dance instruction scene between Sister Sledge and the Afrisa dancers inspires me to use this thing for the first time.

After the film, I asked a question and got a t-shirt with the original Zaire74 logo out of it and got to see a classic scene between Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, the director, getting heat from Leon Gast, the producer, for screening a version which is not completely cleared for rights ??? lol.