‘Music is healing'

Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson tells us about his documentary on a pivotal moment in American history

- IAN MACEWAN

America’s Woodstock festival, held in August 1969, is often cited as a pivotal moment both in popular music and counterculture.

That same summer, just 100 miles away, over 300,000 people attended the Harlem Cultural Festival in New York, a free, six-week concert series featuring the likes of Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Sly and the Family Stone, Nina Simone and BB King.

But while Woodstock is known to millions, few people have heard of the Harlem event, which was formerly dubbed ‘the Black Woodstock’.

Now, extensive footage of the festival can be seen in new documentary Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), which marks the directorial debut of DJ and musician Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson.