Following "Summer of Soul" on Hulu, Here are 10 Soulful Summer Festivals Worth a Doc

It likely got the quotBlack Woodstockquot moniker from Hal Tulchin the guy who painstakingly shot the original event for a possible TV sale setting up the stage at the presentday Marcus Garvey Park to face the sun to save on lights Tulchin scrawled quotBlack Woodstockquot on the tapes to give them the cachamp233 of the upstate rock fest drawing all the headlines It didn39t work and the tapes were shelved for decades until this yearThe Harlem Cultural Festival was fundamentally a different event than Woodstock though it shared at least one performer Sly and the Family Stone Not a threeday weekend camping fest it was a sixweek series of Sunday afternoon concerts with a local audience that in many cases had popped over from churchIt was also not the first and certainly not the last music festival to concentrate on the rich artistry of the Black community while bringing in the diverse sounds as well of other underrepresented communities from Puerto Rico to AfricaHere are 10 other festivals that warranted their own exuberant documentaries Some were documented others were not as noted belowSchaefer Music Festival Two years before the Harlem Cultural Festival the beersponsored concert series at Wollman Rink in Central Park was presenting a slew of diverse talent for free or a dollar Jimi Hendrix played a bill with the Young Rascals the first year By 1969 performers also included Harlem acts Simone King Sly Stone Ray Barretto and Hugh Masekela but also Miles Davis Sam ampamp Dave John Lee Hooker Lou Rawls Little Richard Slim Harpo Dizzy Gillespie Mongo Santamaria and Little RichardThere was a documentary of sorts A couple of nights in 1971 were filmed for an ABC special that aired in August that year featuring the television debut of Carly Simon alongside Ike ampamp Tina Turner Boz Scaggs and The Beach BoysMiami Pop Festival The first big international pop festival on the East Coast in December 1968 was largely rock acts but its three days also included Marvin Gaye Chuck Berry Jose Feliciano Hugh Masekela Junior Walker Joe Tex Richie Havens and James CottonThere is no documentaryWattstax Stax Records organized this huge festival at the LA Coliseum in 1972 to mark the seventh anniversary of the 1965 uprising in Watts The oneday event attracted 112000 people the largest gathering of African Americans outside of a civil rights event to date Isaac Hayes Luther Ingram The Staples Singers Rufus Thomas Albert King Carla Thomas and the BarKays were among the performers The Rev Jesse Jackson hostedThere is a documentary Released in 1973 quotWattstaxquot was nominated for a best documentary Golden Globe and in 2020 was selected for inclusion in the Library of Congress39 National Film Registry as quotculturally historically or aesthetically significantquotZaire 3974 South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela conceived of the threeday music fest in the present day Democratic Republic of Congo to coincide with the celebrated Muhammad AliGeorge Foreman fight that fall dubbed quotThe Rumble in the Junglequot The fight was postponed but the concert went on in September 1974 with James Brown Bill Withers BB King The Spinners Celia Cruz and Mariam Makeba performing as well as 17 groups from ZaireThere is a longdelayed documentary Thirtyfive years after this event director Jeff LevyHinte released his film about the concert quotSoul Powerquot in 2009World39s Greatest Funk Festival The Detroit concert at the Pontiac Silverdome in July 1979 advertised quot8 hours of Pure Funkquot for 1275 Its George Clintonheavy roster included ParliamentFunkadelic Bootsy39s Rubber Band Rick James ConFunkShun the Gap Band and the Clinton side projects Brides of Funkenstein and ParletThere is no documentaryAstrodome Jazz Festival The initial event in 1972 in Houston39s vast domed stadium included Ike and Tina Turner BB King Donny Hathaway Roberta Flack Jimmy Smith Cannonball Adderley Dizzy Gillespie and Illinois Jacquet Its second year had Stevie Wonder Aretha Franklin Ray Charles and Ella Fitzgerald Eventually it was rebranded the Kool Jazz Festival and played again in 1975 1976 and 1980There is no documentary but a bootleg recording of Hathaway39s firstyear performance has been trading hands for hundreds of dollarsSummer Jam What might have been the first major hiphop fest was thrown by New York radio station Hot 97 at the Meadowlands in 1994 featuring WuTang Clan A Tribe Called Quest and Nas shortly after the release of their most iconic albums Also on the bill Arrested Development Gang Starr and Black Moon It has continued every year since This year39s event on Aug 22 at Met Life Stadium is scheduled to include Saweetie Swiss Beatz Meek Mill Migos Young Devyn and MooskiNo documentaries have been madeDave Chappelle39s Block Party The celebratory September 2004 street concert in Brooklyn39s Clinton Hill neighborhood drew Kanye West Mos Def Jill Scott Erykah Badu The Roots Common Talib Kweli John Legend Dead Prez and a reunited FugeesThere is documentation The event was arguably organized for the film of the same name directed by Michael Gondry and released in March 2006 featuring Chappelle doing comedy in between acts riffing on the similarities of musicians and comediansEssence Music Festival First organized to mark the 25th anniversary of Essence Magazine in 1995 the festival itself celebrated its 25th anniversary with its 2019 event featuring Missy Elliott Mary J Blige HER Big Freedia and more than 75 other acts at the Superdome in New Orleans Billed as the largest African American culture and music event in the US its first gathering featured Aretha Franklin Luther Vandross Gladys Knight Patti LaBelle and BB King Live events in 2020 and 2021 were curtailed because of the pandemic but virtual performances this year came from DJ Khaled Kirk Franklin Carl Thomas DNice Tank and Jazmine Sullivan among othersThere is a documentary Early in her career Ava DuVernay directed a twohour documentary on the event for TVOne that debuted in 2010Made in America Festival Rapper JayZ founded and performed in the initial festival in Philadelphia in 2012 with a lineup that included Pearl Jam Drake Jill Scott RunDMC Mariah Carey Janelle Monamp225e and Rita Ora It has continued there annually each Labor Day Weekend and this year39s event Sept 45 is topped by Justin Bieber Lil Baby Doja Cat Megan Thee Stallion and Roddy RichThere is a documentary Ron Howard directed the 2013 quotMade in Americaquot produced by Brian Grazer and JayZ chronicling the organization of the initial festClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Following "Summer of Soul" on Hulu, Here are 10 Soulful Summer Festivals Worth a Doc

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Following "Summer of Soul" on Hulu, Here are 10 Soulful Summer Festivals Worth a Doc

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