Presented in conjunction with the landmark "Rumble in the Jungle" boxing match between famed pugilists Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, Zaire '74 was a three-day music festival in Kinshasa that was organized by South African musician Hugh Masekela and American record producer Stewart Levine, and featured performances by such famed musicians as James Brown, Bill Withers, and B.B. King, among others. Many of the American musicians performing at Zaire '74 had been emboldened by the American Civil
Rights movement, and saw their journey to Africa as a unique opportunity not just to perform for a new set of enthusiastic fans, but to explore their roots as well. However, while the forward-thinking promoters of Zaire '74 hired a talented team of documentary filmmakers to capture everything from the setup to the performances to everyday life in Kinshasa, the project ran into trouble when the Liberian investment group that financed the festival and film ran into some rather serious legal disputes. For the next three decades, the remarkable footage would sit untouched and unedited -- a valuable sociohistorical artifact seemingly forgotten, and left to succumb to the ravages of time. Later, in 1996, the rights were settled in order to help facilitate the completion of When We Were Kings, an Academy Award-winning documentary focusing on the very same Ali/Foreman match that took place alongside the Zaire '74 music festival. Recognizing the need to assemble the neglected Zaire '74 footage while it was still possible, When We Were Kings editor Jeffrey Levy-Hinte made it his own personal mission to see the long gestating project through to completion. The result is not simply a concert film featuring some of the most popular African and American musicians of the era, but also a pure cinéma vérité glimpse into a time when the musical crossover between the two nations was just beginning to emerge. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Soul Power turns out to be an unusually resonant time capsule, one that weaves together theatrics, musicianship, cosmopolitanism and sharp political critique in a vibrant look-back that's at once celebratory and wistful.
It packs the emotional and historical power of a heady 'family gathering' celebration of African and, to use the term then in fashion, Afro-American pride.
Watching the Godfather of Soul on the big outdoor stage, you think back to his appearance in The T.A.M.I. Show a decade earlier. And then you think: I feel good.
A dazzling chronicle of the African American music expo that was meant to accompany the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle heavyweight title bout between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Congo).
B.B. King. Bill Withers. Miriam Makeba. Celia Cruz. And James Brown, earning every inch of the title, "Godfather of Soul," who all by himself probably deforested a few acres around Kinshasa with the volcanic blast of his set.
...if you are a fan of any of the musicians ... or maybe I should say if you're completely unfamiliar with any of the musicians mentioned - then Soul Power is well worth seeing. Or at least hearing.
The movie is surprisingly dry and flavorless. It certainly doesn't help that filmmaker Jeffrey Levy-Hinte put this collection of footage together without any narration and with a bare minimum of narrative captions.
Ultimately it's the music that makes this film a cause for celebration -- especially the chance to see 'Soul Brother #1' James Brown and his blistering band perform at their absolute prime.
SOUL POWER offers a different view surrounding the events of The Rumble In The Jungle In Zaire-1974. A decent companion to When We Were Kings, but nowhere near as engaging as it could have been. With icons that are larger than life today as they were then, the documentary falls short on piecing together the
performances. That's not to say the performances are anything less that fantastic, I just felt the ball was dropped in the editing room with even the beginning of the film taking a bit of time to get steam going. The song choices showcased in the film are the "all too familiar" selections from the artists instead of others which may be lesser known but just as, if not more, powerful. Some of the performances which ended up on the deleted scenes portion of the dvd had me asking why they weren't included in the very short time capsule the film attempts to deliver. Still worth watching, but mostly served as a reminder of how great the documenatary "When We Were Kings" actually is.
March 8, 2010
El Hombre Invisible
Super Reviewer
"Soul Power" is an enjoyable concert film about the three day music festival that was scheduled to complement the Muhammad Ali-George Foreman title fight in Kinshasa, Zaire in 1974. Even with the fight delayed for several weeks due to injury, the show must still go on and what a show it was with The Spinners, B.B.
King and the Godfather of Soul, James Brown("He'll make your bladder splatter." The coolest intro ever.). Most impressive for me was African musicians including Miriam Makeba. The whole festival was a celebration of the music's roots, allowing the American and African musicians to interact. On a personal level, the Americans demonstrated their solidarity with the African people.
If anything, the movie is too short and there could have definitely been more of the music. The behind the scenes footage only proves how difficult it is to put on a concert like this while reminding us all what a great wordsmith Muhammad Ali used to be.
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