Of course, you must first watch the 2021 documentary on Hulu, recut by Questlove from some 40 hours of tableted footage from a shoot deemed unshowable: the Harlem Cultural Festival, presented from July to September 1969. During that two walked on the Moon and 400,000 walked on the lands of Max Yasgur in Bethel, NY (yes, the Woodstock nation), African-American artists followed one another on the stage erected at Mount Morris Park. The soul was less tender than resentful, even angry, you can hear it in the voice of Nina Simone (Backlash Blues). But the joy of singing together reigns supreme on this original soundtrack that deserved to exist separately: rolling with the Staple Singers, David Ruffin, Gladys Knight, Herbie Mann, BB King, Sly and the Family Stone, Mahalia Jackson, the Chambers Brothers and The 5th Dimension gives breath, fuel, and above all the desire, 53 years later, to go further.
To see in video