One of the best sequences intercuts the musical performances with the moon landing, and then contrasts reactions from white Americans with those of Black people at the festival. At Black Woodstock, an All-Star Lineup Delivered Joy and Renewal to 300,000, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/arts/music/black-woodstock-harlem-festival-1969.html. John Lindsay, New York City mayor from 1966 to 1973, fully supported the festival. But he wanted to do more and the result is an exhilarating documentary that both captures a moment in time and assesses its value. A little over one year after all of this turbulence, The Harlem Cultural Festival served to celebrate what no amount of hatred nor systemic oppression can take away from Black people: talent, pride, and joy. Presented by Heritage Center Theater at Festival Hall and Heritage Theater - Cedar City, Cedar City UT. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures Presented by St. George Art Museum at St. George Art Museum, Saint George UT. The archival performances within are extraordinary and easily stand on their ownbut Questloves direction and dedication in telling the complete story of how this all came into being shines through brightly. Al Sharpton in "Summer of Soul," a documentary about the Harlem Cultural Festival, a music extravaganza that took place over six weeks at the . Privacy Statement Contact International Folk Festival events@nowplayingutah.com. King, Sly and the Family Stone, Chuck Jackson, Abbey Lincoln & Max Roach, the 5th Dimension, David Ruffin, Hugh Masakela, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Stevie Wonder, and more. Those who turned out in Harlem bucked the malicious stereotype of the black mob. They gathered peacefully with no incident conjuring an energy akin to that of their Bethel, N.Y., hippie brethren open and ready to ride the wave of a local black sound utopia. July 13, 1969. Curiosity has been growing since Lauro leaked some footage onto a Nina Simone DVD/CD last summer, mentioning the festival in the liner notes. That sentiment would be eloquently conveyed the followed year with Gil Scott-Heron's "Whitey on the Moon" (a song and sentiment that was put to good use in the HBO series "Lovecraft Country"). In 1969, a glorious summer celebration of music and culture took place in New York. The Roots drummer and songwriter Ahmir Thompson a.k.a. 'Summer of Soul' documents the diverse nature and rich history of Black music during the tumultuous time for Black people that was 1969. So it came as little surprise when the NYPD refused to provide security for the festival. Drummer Max Roach appears with vocalist Abbey Lincoln interpreting John Coltranes Africa. Tony Lawrence was a music and television performer in Virginia before he moved to New York. We can demand what we want. "This was before DVDs, before VCRs, when you can just soak in it whenever you want," she said. Any major music event that brings people together for something pivotal and powerful is more than worthy of preservation. The comic legends Pigmeat Markham and Moms Mabley made appearances, and the final show included a Miss Harlem pageant. Sly and the Family Stone, the racially integrated rock band that would go on to play Woodstock, also give an amazingly electrifying performance, including their multiracial anthem of unity, Everyday People. Such a legacy lives on most notably in todays venerable and beloved Afropunk festival (which is not affiliated with the 50th anniversary Harlem Cultural Festival event). With the success of the Festival, Lawrence planned to bring it across the country. In 1969, during the same summer as Woodstock, another music festival took place 100 miles away. Lindsay and his advisors walked the streets of Harlem the night after King died. All event names, trademarks, and brands are property of their respective owners. Summer of Soul, the new documentary from Questlove, spotlights 1969's Harlem Cultural Festival, a series of concerts that entertainer turned promoter Tony Lawrence presented in Harlem's Mount . Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures Actress Diana Sands read a telegram from Sidney Poitier, with Tony Lawrence's band behind her, at the Harlem Cultural Festival on 128th Street between Madison and Fifth Avenues, before the festival found a more permanent home at Mount Morris Park. Questlove, drummer for the Roots, the in-house band for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, flawlessly combines never-before-seen footage of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival with new commentaries, creating a truly essential and entertaining viewing experience. Besides Sly, the festival's roster included B.B. After the summer of 1969, the summer concert series did not happen again, even though it had been announced for the following summer. July 13, 1969. We see iconic musicians on stage, alongside lesser known artists of equally exquisite talent. This speaks to a larger truth about Black people standing and advocating for ourselves when others refuse to do it. Lawrence appeared in nightclubs and local productions of plays in the 1980s, but he then disappeared from public life. People who werent born until decades later know about it. The first two festivals were relatively successful, but the 1969 event made major waves. The Harlem Cultural Festival should be a highlight of American music history and a cultural milestone for Black people. Knight, interviewed in the present for "Summer of Soul," talks about how deeply good it felt for her and the Pips to be on . Over six weekends in the summer of 1969, the Harlem Cultural Festival drew more than 300,000 people. Wattstax, in addition to featuring Isaac Hayes at the peak of his solo stardom as "Black Moses," contained cutaways to early Richard Pryor nightclub routines that resemble the comedy clips Questlove chooses to insert from Moms Mabley and Redd Foxx. Perhaps mainstream gatekeepers hoped posterity would forget the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969, even though other redemptive celebrations of Black Pride staged in Ghana, in Zaire, and in Los Angeles, were filmed and released theatrically during the 1970s. The NYPD refused to police the events and security was left to the Black Panthers. A lot of you can't read newspapers. Sadly, LBJ chose to ignore the findings of the so called "Kerner Commission" which warned in part: "What white Americans have never fully understoodbut what the Negro can never forget is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. What the Harlem Cultural Festival Represented Questlove's debut as a director, the documentary Summer of Soul, revisits a musical event that encapsulated the energies of Harlem in the 1960s. For 50 years, 45 hours worth of footage from the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival in New York sat in a basement, remaining unseen by the public. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures Total attendance for the concert. A lot of you can't read books because our schools have been mean and left us illiterate or semi-literate. In addition to the performances, the festival provided a stage for issues. Sunday, June 29, 1969 Mount Morris Park, New York, NY Edwin Hawkins Singers George Kirby Max Roach Olatunji Sly & the Family Stone The 5th Dimension Wry humor is thus shown to be far from out of place in these overtly political films. The idea was to celebrate African American music and promote black pride and unity after a difficult period during the late 1960s which saw the Watts Riots and the deaths of Martin Luther King (April 1968) and Malcolm X (February 1965). And, I am not talking about Woodstock. The performers and the crowd were all well aware of this fact. The Harlem Cultural Festival, with its six free shows from June 29 to August 24, 1969, was different; it appealed to a large cross-section of the community, drawing families and churchgoers as well as the youth of New York City. Poster advertising the event. Of course, racism tried to rear its ugly head with NYPD refusing to provide security during the concerts debut weekend. July 13, 1969. Questlove cuts away from grainy black and white NASA videos to show Walter Cronkite and other TV reporters interviewing unimpressed black festival goers. Over the course of six weeks in 1969, veteran TV producer Hal Tulchin filmed the Harlem Cultural Festival. Gladys Knight & the Pips give one of the most energized performances of the festival, rendering their hit version of I Heard it Through the Grapevine. Experiencing the film up close on a big screen will enable viewers to feel as if they have been transported back to 1969 Harlem, surrounded by vibrancy, art, culture, and community. Source: (Sundance Institute/YouTube/Nerdist). Harlem Cultural Festival 1969 Setlists Jun 29 1969 Date Sunday, June 29, 1969 - Sunday, August 24, 1969 Venue Mount Morris Park, New York, NY, USA Report festival So far there are setlists of 27 gigs. Produced and directed by Ahmir Questlove Thompson, Summer of Soul was the inspiration for a new outdoor music festival set for 2023. / Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah / I'm talkin. Mayor John Lindsay with the gospel singer Mahalia Jackson outside her dressing room. They were the living embodiment of Sly and the Family Stones everyday people. From 1972s Wattstax in Los Angeles to 1973s Soul at the Center events at Lincoln Center, from Diana Rosss heroic 1983 rain-soaked performance in Central Park to Dave Chappelles 2004 rousing neo-soul-fights-neoliberal-gentrification Block Party, the idea of the large-scale African-American pop concert as community revival, sustenance, triumph and renewal is a recurring phenomenon. Searchlight Pictures. Lawrence also claimed that he was being threatened by a mafia enforcer and that his car was blown up when he was visiting his friend Sidney Poitier. HFC kicks off the 2022 spring season with musical performances in the park starting in May, along with conversation series and film screenings. The Kerner Report suggestions had to be deployed by proactive mayors like John Lindsay before similar initiatives were widely implemented by the federal government. He listened to Black community leaders then set up summer job and lunch programs for young urban teens. Produced and directed by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, "Summer of Soul" was the inspiration for a new outdoor music festival set for 2023. The Senate has agreed, by unanimous consent, to designate the last weekend of June 2022 as a time to commemorate the first weekend of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. Like, he had to go and be part of it.. This is a feast for both ears and eyes, as the fashions and wardrobes of the era are on full, colorful display. 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival later known as the "Black Woodstock" Mount Morris Park, NYC 1969 festival #18 June 29 - August 24, 1969: consisted of six free Sunday afternoon concerts held between June 29 and Aurgust 24. It was a place for Black music lovers to convene and listen to artists who sung about love, heartbreak, and pride from our specific perspectives. July 13, 1969. Unbelievably, the video footage from the festival sat in a basement for over fifty years, unseen by the public after that summer. It is likely that Questlove studied these 1970s concert films because of the ways in which Summer of Soul similarly intersperses diverse styles of live music with trenchant observations from participants. Summer of Soul contains an abundance of awe-inspiring material. He also raised funds for a playground and a Head Start program. "Summer of Soul" is smartly and passionately crafted. The nonprofit organization will provide mentoring, apprenticeship opportunities and curriculum to high school students to further foster Harlems next generation of leaders in music, media, art, fashion, science, technology, and entertainment. Interest came from Joe Lauro, who discovered the Black Woodstock video amid his routine prowling of old TV Guide issues (hour-long specials had appeared on CBS and ABC). The Harlem Cultural Festival, also known as "Black Woodstock", was a series of music concerts held in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City during the summer of 1969 to celebrate African American music and culture and to promote the continued politics of Black pride. At the time, other youth-oriented festivals, like Monterey and Newport were starting to appear. Welcome to Cedar City Star Search! And we're still doing that today in the Bush years. "But I knew it was going to be like real estate, and sooner or later someone would have interest in it.". "You see the generations teetering," said Neville. ", Reached recently in preparation for a voting-rights march in New Orleans, Jackson reflected on what was accomplished that summer in Harlem, and summers since. Opens in new tab Opens in new tab Opens in new tab. July 27, 1967. Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park) during the summer of 1969, featuring 25 artists that played to over 300,000 attendees. It was a time of social upheaval, Black power, African influenced fashion, and a younger generation hungry for change. That slice of freedom and fun must have been an incredibly liberating precursor for the next decade. Do you want to be the first who gets the news directly to your mailbox? Over six weekends in the summer of 1969, the Harlem Cultural Festival drew more than 300,000 people. Jesse Jackson spoke, and Nina Simone read a black nationalist poem by David Nelson, which contrasted with the tones of Jesse Jacksons speech. South African musician Hugh Masekela joined African American performers in the 3rd edition of the Harlem Cultural Festival's celebration of Black creativity and international solidarity. Presented by Brigham Young University Museum of Art at Brigham Young University Museum of Art, Provo UT. In an Afro, mutton chops and an orange-and-yellow dashiki, Jackson also spoke at the festival: "As I look out at us rejoice today, I was hoping it would be in preparation for the major fight we as a people have on our hands here in this nation.