The 1960s are America's most mythologized decade. But nowhere is that more evident than in the collective memories of its music festivals. Woodstock has been used as a synonym for Altamont, the counterculture's zenith. Monterey, which featured star-making turns by Otis Redding and Janis Joplin, is arguably more significant than either of these two. These events have a lasting impact on the cinemas that made them. D.A. Pennebakers Monterey Pop (1968), produced some of the most memorable imagery in rock n' roll. This included Hendrix burning his Stratocaster during Wild Thing. Albert Maysles and David Maysles are often cited for their account of the Rolling Stones concert at Altamont. Gimme Shelter (1970) is often referred to as one of the most important documentaries of all time. These movies were largely responsible for inventing the visual language of rock n' roll concert film. They ensured that future generations would be able to dream about the events they captured.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSix consecutive Sundays in 1969 were dedicated to the Harlem Cultural Festival. It has been talked about but not in the same quiet tone as more famous contemporary events. Ahmir Questlove Thompson's new film Summer of Soul, Or, When the Revolution Could not Be Televised, goes a long ways to rectifying that. This documentary shines a spotlight on an extremely successful festival that provided a strong musical gathering place for city's Black and Brown populations. It also offered a platform for luminaries such as Sly and The Family Stone, Stevie Wonder and Nina Simone. King, the Staple Singers and Mahalia Jackson.Subscribe to the Slate Culture newsletter and receive the best movies, TV, books, music, etc. directly to your inbox. Signing you up was not possible due to an error Please try again. To use this form, please enable jаvascript. Email address: I would like to receive updates on Slate special offers. You agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms by signing up. Thank you for signing up! You can cancel your subscription at any time.It is often said that the Harlem Cultural Festival is forgotten. However, this is not true. The festival is well-known to those who lived in New York in the 1960s and was covered extensively in their day. Daphne Brooks also wrote an excellent historical essay about it in the New York Times in 2019. It was also not forgotten by the many thousands of people who attended, many of which are still with us today and appear in Questloves film.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe festival is not available to view, even though it was filmed by a professional crew. The footage sat in the dark for more than 50 years before Questlove released it. The film was premiered at Sundance January, and will be streaming on Hulu Friday. Summer of Soul, the drummers' directorial debut, is a masterful and impressively assured filmmaker. Documentaries like this are often filled with highly-credentialed talk heads who wax wildly about the subject's cosmic significance. But Summer of Soul mostly avoids this. Instead, the performers take the center stage and allow the images to speak for themselves.AdvertisementTony Lawrence, a promoter and singer, created the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. The festival organizers were able to secure sponsorship from Maxwell House as well as the support of New York City. The festival's organizers were able to secure sponsorship from Maxwell House and support from the New York City government.AdvertisementAdvertisementSummer of Soul features some amazing retrospective testimonials from artists, such as Gladys Knight and Mavis Staples. Even more touching are the present-day interviews with audience members. Many of them were teenagers at the time, and are deeply moved by the chance to revisit this formative musical experience. They are charming, funny, and affecting in their recollections. One attendee recalled his shock when he discovered that Greg Errico (the monstrously talented drummer of Sly and the Family Stone) was a long-haired white man.The real attraction is music. You will find a surprising amount of stylistic diversity, such as pop (David Ruffin and Gladys Knight), jazz (Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln and Sonny Sharrock), blues (B.B. King), boogaloo, Ray Barretto, and Mongo Santamaria. A generous amount of gospel is also included, which likely doubled as a kind of programming choice for an older group of Harlemites. They might have been irritated by the thought of rock stars such as Sly Stone or the Fifth Dimension (and their legions if young fans) intruding on their Sunday afternoons.AdvertisementThere are also the performances, which can capture some truly legendary artists at pivotal points in their careers. Mavis Staples and Mahalia Jackson, representing two generations musical royalty, perform Take My Hand, Precious Lord, which is the late Martin Luther King Jr.'s favorite gospel song. Stevie Wonder, 19, performs Shoo Be-Doo Be-Doo–Da-Day. He also plays a blistering clavinet solo with a wahwah pedal. This is a preview of what would become one of Wonder's signature sounds during his 1970s reign. Summer of Soul, which finds Wonder at the peak of his imperial period of Wonder, finds Sly in full bloom. He delivers jaw-dropping renditions of Sing a Simple Song, and I Want to Make You Higher, with the unstoppable force of the Family Stone behind.AdvertisementAdvertisementOne of the most interesting facts about 60s music festivals is their overwhelmingly white lineups. Sly and the Family Stone were the only acts on the bill that had any notable presence on Billboards R&B charts. The festival's remote rural location also made it difficult for urban audiences to reach. Despite all the promises of peace and love, Woodstock has been a long-held symbol of utopian peace and love. Although the extent of these exclusions has been debated over the years, it is clear that Woodstocks (and Altamonts and, to a lesser extent Montereys') vision of the ideal hippie music lover was white. This vision was often reflected in how these festivals were filmed.AdvertisementThis bias probably explains why Summer of Soul has never shown the footage before. Black Woodstock has been called the Harlem Cultural Festival for many years. This is an unfortunate moniker. The Festival began on June 29th, and Woodstock did not begin until August. 15. The original filmmakers tried to sell their footage to distributors after the event, but Black Woodstock was the way they presented it (understandably given Wadleighs film's success). They couldn't find any buyers. This could be due to a variety of factors, including the Hollywood belief that there was no reliable audience for Black films. It also speaks to the ever-hardening belief that music festivals and films about them were fundamentally white. To put it bluntly, the idea of a Black Woodstock may have seemed about as absurd to some people than the idea of a Harlem Cultural Festival. Columbia Pictures was granted distribution rights to Wattstax four years later. However, this was after the Blaxploitation revolution. In fact, Columbia competitor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer prevented Wattstax's release until Isaac Hayes performed songs from MGMs megahit Shaft.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSummer of Soul's focus on Black performers is not the only thing that makes it a great event, but its inclusion of Black audiences. While there are clearly many white people present in the crowd and onstage at Summer of Soul, it is a small minority. Summer of Soul is not just a record of Black musical performance. There are plenty of performers from the 60s. It's also a tribute to Black musical fandom, and Black musical pleasure. These are aspects that have been too often overlooked and underrepresented in the mythology of 60s music and other musical histories. Summer of Soul reminds us that the joy of music community is one of our greatest human experiences. It is a unifying truth in many ways.
