What’s It About
During the same summer as Woodstock, a different music festival took place 100 miles away. More than 300,000 people attended the summer concert series known as the Harlem Cultural Festival. It was filmed, but after that summer, the footage sat in a basement for 50 years. It has never been seen — until now.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
This is the live event “they” didn’t want future generations to know about. “They” are so petty and so insecure, this masterpiece was shelved. That gave the false impression that in 1969, Woodstock was (and to some, still is) the best concert event of all time. This is one of those moments in history when the conspiracy theorists are one-hundred percent right. Let’s do the math. Woodstock was a 3-day music festival held August 15–18. The performers were Sly & The Family Stone, Jimi Hendrix, and thirty other White acts. The Harlem Cultural Festival (Black Woodstock) was held on Sundays at 3 PM from June 29th to August 24th, 1969 (6-weeks), featuring over 25 acts. Furthermore, The Harlem Cultural Festival was held during the summers of 1967, 1968, AND 1969. This footage has been purposely kept from seeing the light of day so that Woodstock could flourish as THE event of a lifetime. Now, more than 50 years later, new generations get to see what authentic Black performances are like. New generations get to hear the voices of African Americans dance, talk, and sing about how great it is to be Black and proud. Summer Of Soul is more than a concert film. It’s a fantastic moment in time the powers that be wished never happened. Woodstock was meant to highlight and further promote the White acts of that time. But out of their 30 acts, once again, the only two Black acts there were better than all others, hands down. In short, try as they might, we as a people still musically outshine the self-appointed top race. I/we highly recommend Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) for any music lovers wanting to hear the whole musical story of 69’.
OUR RATING – YOU WILL KNOW THE TRUTH 9.5