Questlove Unearths The Long-Forgotten 'Summer Of Soul'
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 5 July 2021
⏱️ 11 minutes
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Summary
Footage of the festival had been locked in a basement for 50 years, because TV and film companies were not interested in it at the time.
Questlove and his fellow filmmakers speak to Audie Cornish about bringing the concert festival to the big screen in their movie, Summer Of Soul, which is also out on Hulu.
NPR's Eric Deggans also reviewed the film. Some descriptions of the film from his review are heard in this episode.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In 1969, the same summer as Woodstock, a different music festival took place 100 miles away. |
| 0:17.0 | The Harlem Cultural Festival was free to all. 300,000 people showed up, |
| 0:21.9 | and they saw a galaxy of stars. Stars were all familiar with, |
| 0:25.7 | but whom we might not have glimpsed at just this moment in their careers. |
| 0:30.4 | Gladys Knight, the fifth dimension, David Ruffin, |
| 0:33.8 | fresh off the temptations. |
| 0:35.5 | Missy in August, right? |
| 0:40.8 | That's a mere quest love Thompson, the Grammy-winning DJ and musician best known |
| 0:45.6 | as drummer and composer with the roots. |
| 0:47.7 | He didn't even know about the festival until he was asked to direct a documentary about it. |
| 0:52.4 | It's called Summer of Soul. It's out now in theaters and on Hulu, |
| 0:56.6 | and it opens with something even quest love had never seen before signing on to the project. |
| 1:06.7 | A performance by a young Stevie Wonder playing The Drums. |
| 1:14.4 | Instantly when I saw that Stevie Wonder drum solo, I knew |
| 1:18.0 | nobody will see this coming. |
| 1:24.3 | In fact, no one has ever seen any of this footage before. |
| 1:28.2 | It's at an abacement for 50 years, because at the time there were no big TV or film companies |
| 1:34.6 | interested in it. The festival in Harlem was overshadowed by Woodstock, a 100 miles away. |
| 1:41.0 | 45 hours of footage to go through. It was a shock. |
| 1:49.3 | Coming up, quest love on the summer of soul, along forgotten reminder of the power and resilience |
| 1:55.1 | of black American culture. |
| 2:00.8 | It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Adi Cornish. It's Monday, July 5th. |
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