Dec 2009
Zaire '74 documentary on Blu-ray
Out now on DVD and Blu-ray is Soul Power, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte’s fascinating 2008 documentary about the Zaire ‘74 3-day music festival starring James Brown, BB King, Miriam Makeba, Bill Withers, Celia Cruz and the Fania Allstars, and many more.
A vérité documentary — compiled entirely from footage shot in 1974 — it was held in Kinshasa ahead of the biggest boxing event of all time: the Muhammad Ali—George Foreman “Rumble in the Jungle”. Now, after years of painstaking restoration — legal wrangling prevented an edit and release at the time of filming — Soul Power joins the pantheon of concert film classics, taking its place alongside others of the late-1960s and early-1970s, including Monterey Pop, Woodstock, Gimme Shelter, Soul to Soul, and Wattstax. For full details see our microsite.