What a concert that was!
1974, in what was then Zaire.
Three nights, with performers including James
Brown, The Crusaders, Celia Cruz & the Fania All Stars (with
Ray Baretto and Johnny Pacheco), Miriam Makeba, Franco & OK Jazz, Tabu Ley Rochereau, BB King, Bill
Withers, The Spinners, Zaiko Langa Langa, Wendo Kolosoy, Etta
James, the Pointer Sisters, Manu Dibango and a lot more...
The concert, was to be part of
the setting for the famous "Rumble in the Jungle" fight with Muhammed Ali
and George Foreman. This documentary was put together from footage
rescued & reconstructed from unused outtakes of the Oscar
winning documentary When We
Were Kings.
An excellent film and story,
now playing at Canada Square (Yonge & Eglinton). Bonuses include
some tremendous (sic) fashions, and what must have been one of
the great trans-Atlantic flights ever!
See the film's website linked
above, and more information and video
excerpts are on the
Mondomix
website. (Note: not all the performers listed above are in
the documentary (and Manu Dibango is shown performing on a
Kinshasha street with a group of children). Perhaps some of the
missing acts will be included in the DVD to be released later
this year. Each of the musicians perform one song in the film,
except for the star of the show, James Brown who deservedly gets
more time. (And don't leave the theatre till you catch his last
message to everyone following the closing credits).
Note: at a recent weekday
evening showing, there were only 6 people in the audience;
perhaps you should catch it while you can!
Here's a
YouTube clip of Celia Cruz at the concert (a different edit
of the song used in the film). Some more background about the
concert is in Gary Stewart's book on Congolese music, Rumba on
the River. See this section on
Google Books.
