Summertime Sadness

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We have hit an interesting time in pop culture. The “Concert” film has made its way to the center of film over the last few weeks.

We thought it would be a perfect time to discuss our favorite music films.

Not necessarily musicals, Movies where the center of the film is the music.

So let's get into Music Week!

Summer of Soul (...or, When the Revolution Could not be Televised) (2021)

Written by John Pog

Music, like most forms of art, is often essential in being able to express emotion, whether that emotion is happiness, anxiety, anger, or sadness (all of which will be discussed throughout this week). Much like film, music is used to express something deep within us, something central to what it means to be a human.

With that in mind we are going to kick off Music Movies Week with a movie that embodies the importance of music and film to human existence. Today we are doing Summer of Soul (… or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised).

Summertime Sadness

Summer of Soul has an interesting history. In the summer of 1969 (the summer of Woodstock) a series of concerts were put on in Harlem’s Mount Morris Park. The concerts were called “The Harlem Cultural Festival.” Each of these concerts featured predominantly black artists and the concerts were held in the predominantly black neighborhood of New York City. All of these concerts were filmed when they originally took place but the film sat in a New York City basement for years before it was rediscovered in 2004. It wasn’t until 2016 that the project now known as Summer of Soul was put together.

What makes all of this history so fascinating is that the concert series was unknown for such a long period of time, lost to history except for a few people who attended and performed at the festival. But its impact and importance are still felt today.

Rage, Rage, Rage

In 1965, 4 years before the Harlem Cultural Festival, Malcom X (major civil rights activist) was murdered. In 1968, just 1 year before the festival, Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered. The oppression and hatred that was felt in the black community in America was at a fever pitch by the time Summer of Soul took place.

This concert series was created by leaders of the Harlem community to help give a less violent outlet to express this tension. Music gave a hurting and angry people a way to express this pain that they felt. That is the power of music felt in a tangible way. Artists like B.B King, Sly and the Family Stones, Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, and Gladys Knight all helped propel the activism that was sweeping the city and the nation at large.

Culture

The other side to the beauty of this film is its preservation of late 60s black culture. Summer of Soul is full of images and shots of thousands of black men and women in 1969. We get to see what they were wearing, how they danced, what they ate, and what they drank, just as it was in 1969. It is not only a political film (which it is really good at), it's also interested in showing the world exactly what Harlem was like and what made it beautiful.

The crown jewel of Summer of Soul is a moment that happens about halfway through the movie. Mavis Staples and Mahalia Jackson give a performance of the song “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.” Dr. King's favorite song. The sadness, anger, grief, defiance, and beauty that are contained in that performance moved me to tears, thinking of all the hatred and suffering that has taken place and how music was able to give voice to those who were oppressed.

I’m so glad this movie exists and I’m thankful that we have a record of this event.

Today’s Scene

Ferrari