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Product Description
In 1974, the most celebrated American R&B acts of the time came together with the most renowned musical groups in Southern Africa for a 12-hour, three-night long concert held in Kinshasa, Zaire. The pipe dream of musician Hugh Masekela and producer Stewart Levine, this music festival became a reality when they convinced boxing promoter Don King to combine the event with 'The Rumble in the Jungle', the epic fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, previously chronicled in the Academy Award winning documentary 'When We Were Kings'. 'Soul Power' is a verité documentary, entirely composed of footage shot in 1974 at the legendary music festival (dubbed 'Zaire '74'). It shows the experiences and performances of such musical luminaries as James Brown, BB King, Bill Withers, Celia Cruz, Miriam Makeba, among a host of others. At the peak of their talents and the height of their careers, these artists were inspired by this return to their African roots, as well as the enthusiasm of the Zairian audience, to give the performances of their lives. The concert has achieved mythological significance as the definitive Africa(n)-American musical event of the 20th Century. 'Soul Power' has been crafted from the extensive footage which remained after the making of 'When We Were Kings', which famously documented the epic title fight, but only briefly touched upon the Zaire '74 music festival. This footage has remained vaulted for the past 35 years, unused, unseen, until now. Lensed primarily by celebrated cinematographers Albert Maysles (GIMME SHELTER, GREY GARDENS), Paul Goldsmith (RUST NEVER SLEEPS), Kevin Keating (HARLAN COUNTY USA), and Roderick Young (WATTSTAX), 'Soul Power' finally provides today's audience the opportunity to experience this historic musical event in all of its magnificent, filmed glory, restored in HD and with incredible sound quality. An unbridled musical journey for the ages. ********Special edition including: -- New high-definition transfer of the film -- Exclusive video interview with the director, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte -- 30 minutes of deleted behind-the-scenes footage -- Extra concert performances by James Brown, Sister Sledge, the Pointer Sisters, and others -- Optional SDH subtitles for the hard of hearing -- 40-page full-colour booklet featuring archival publicity stills, a new essay Kodwo Eshun (More Brilliant Than the Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction), and a compilation of reminiscences by the Zaire 74 organisers and performers
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:DVD
An important record of what took place. It's all about African culture. Nice to see on and off stage shots of my own favourites - Ali, JB, Ray Barretto, Nicky Marrero.
Nice to see informal shots of Sister Sledge rehersing.
Some interesting footage of the logistical problems in setting up the show.
Nice to see informal shots of Sister Sledge rehersing.
Some interesting footage of the logistical problems in setting up the show.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray
The very disappointing thing about this Blu R'ay is the small amount of the actual concert/festival footage. The restoration of the main film is great and audio faultless. The stuff that is included is totally funky brilliant stuff, this catches and Sister sledge when they were doin' the funk before they went over to disco. James Brown - do I really need to say anythang! After watching the extras the director explains that the lack of concert footage is due to the lack of funding available and that he hoped interest in this film would encourage the wheels of capitalism to fund the editing of the rest of the festival if he could prove there would be a market for it.....come oooon.... thats lame..like there is no market for James Brown, BB king, Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, Bill Withers and Ray Barretto!!! Get the rest of the footage packaged up and released NOW! This film left me wanting....no needing to see and hear the rest of it! Worth watching but it needs the rest to be released to be complete
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Controversy rages.... a scandalous oversight. As soon as it was known this DVD was in the pipeline, REAL music fans were already asking the big question - FRANCO. It's well known that Le Grand Maitre Franco played this gig - it was his home city after all. But what do we get? Just 1m40s of the clearest live footage you'll ever see of Franco and TPOK Jazz at their very peak. AAAAAGGGGHHHH! Talk about a missed opportunity.......
C'mon Masters of Cinema - have some guts for goodness sake. Go and have a chat with Sterns or somebody and put out an entire DVD of the Franco footage which must exist... go on, you know it makes sense!
C'mon Masters of Cinema - have some guts for goodness sake. Go and have a chat with Sterns or somebody and put out an entire DVD of the Franco footage which must exist... go on, you know it makes sense!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not what I expected
This is a movie about making a musical festival Zaire 74, which accompanied the fight Ali-Foreman. It is nowhere near When We Were Kings. And there isn't a lot of music here. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Vladimir Malusev
soul power zaire 74
got this dvd , the picture is grainy unless you have blue ray to much time looking at men putting up a stage the artise who appear you dont know who they are , worth getting for... Read more
Published on 8 Jan 2010 by Peter Ainger
Great Concert But Not Much Else
Zaire `74 the subject of this documentary was a three day music festival held in Kinshasa some weeks before the famous "Rumble in the Jungle" when Ali regained his title. Read more
Published on 29 July 2009 by H. meiehofer
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