Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson to direct 'Black Woodstock': The real story behind the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival
Producers Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein have announced the start of production on 'Black Woodstock', a feature documentary about the Harlem Cultural Festival directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. This film marks Thompson’s feature directorial debut and focuses on the 1969 outdoor festival in Harlem’s Mount Morris Park.
The festival featured dozens of extraordinary performances by artists including Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, Nina Simone, B.B. King, the Staple Singers, the 5th Dimension, David Ruffin, Mahalia Jackson and Gladys Knight and the Pips. The Harlem Cultural Festival took place the same summer as the famed Woodstock festival and boasted an attendance on par with that concert 100 miles away.
Over 300,000 people attended, yet it received virtually no coverage from the mainstream media. 50 years have passed and now this remarkable event has surfaced with 40 hours of stored footage, shot by late television pioneer Hal Tulchin, that, quite simply put, just needed to be shown.
“I am truly excited to help bring the passion, the story and the music of the Harlem Cultural Festival to audiences around the world," said Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. “The performances are extraordinary. I was stunned when I saw the lost footage for the first time. It’s incredible to look at 50 years of history that’s never been told, and I’m eager and humbled to tell that story.”
Producers Fyvolent and Dinerstein ('Cries From Syria; Winter On Fire: Ukraine’s Fight For Freedom') have tapped the award-winning RadicalMedia ('What Happened, Miss Simone?') as creative and production partners, with Jon Kamen and Dave Sirulnick serving as executive producers. The film is co-produced by Vulcan Productions. Concordia Studio, Play/Action Pictures and Beth Hubbard will also serve as executive producers. Joseph Patel will serve as a producer and Randall Poster ('Grand Budapest Hotel') as the music supervisor.
“The music and performances in Black Woodstock will knock audiences out of their seats,” said producers Dinerstein and Fyvolent. “The footage is unusually rich in texture and feel. We are so proud to be working alongside Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson on his directorial debut. We are confident he will bring an authenticity and unique vision to the film."
The 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival came to be known as “Black Woodstock” by local Harlem residents. It was organized and produced by Tony Lawrence who also served as the master of ceremonies.
The idea behind this festival, which took place one year after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was to celebrate African American music, culture and politics, and to promote black pride and unity. While American youth was defining itself as the Woodstock generation, young black America was finding its own voice.
Film director Jessica Edwards once told the writer Bryan Greene, the Harlem Cultural Festival likely holds the distinction of “the most popular music festival you’ve never heard of,” according to the Rolling Stone.
Over six consecutive weekends, the legendary 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival captured a community in transition. Sly Stone and Stevie Wonder were bursting with youthful vitality and a young Jesse Jackson delivered hard-hitting sermons.
Some of the most influential black performers from R&B, soul, pop, jazz, Latin, gospel music and stand-up comedy all shared the stage. The musicianship was top notch and the African-American entertainment had left a cultural engraving in time with the range of performances presented at the festival.
According to Rolling Stone, the Harlem Cultural Festival began in 1967, when a 30-something local entertainer named Tony Lawrence was hired by the city’s Parks Department to organize summertime programming in the neighborhood. During the next three summers, it grew into a vital crossroads of black music, culture and politics.
White politicians with national aspirations (Robert F Kennedy, New York mayor John Lindsay) and black community organizers and civil rights leaders (Jesse Jackson, Marcus Garvey Jr.) all felt compelled to appear at the festival.
“The festival was a way to offset the pain we all felt after MLK,” Rev. Jesse Jackson, who spoke at the festival in 1969, recalled to Rolling Stone. “The artists tried to express the tensions of the time, a fierce pain and a fierce joy.”
According to the New York Times, other artists that performed at the event included: gospel crossover sensation Edwin Hawkins, the avant-garde jazz activists Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach, and the South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela.
About Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson:
Drummer, DJ, producer, culinary entrepreneur, New York Times best-selling author, and member of The Roots - Questlove, is the unmistakable heartbeat of Philadelphia’s most influential hip-hop group. He is the Musical Director for 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon', where his beloved Roots crew serves as the house band.
Beyond that, this four-time Grammy award-winning musician's indisputable reputation has landed him musical directing positions with everyone from D'Angelo to Eminem to Jay-Z.