In ‘Summer of Soul,’ a lost history reborn to play loud

NEW YORK — “Like a rose coming through the concrete” is one description of 1969’s Harlem Cultural Festival heard in Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s exuberant, illuminating documentary “Summer of Soul.” The event, held the same summer as Woodstock, drew together Nina Simone, a 19-year-old Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, B.B. King, the Staples Singers, The 5th Dimension, some of the giants of gospel -- including a summit of Mahalia Jackson and Mavis Staples singing the civil-rights-era anthem “We Shall Overcome.” It was organized, over six summer weekends in Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park by Caribbean singer Tony Lawrence and filmed, with plans for a broadcast special, with a multi-camera crew by television veteran Hal Tulchin. “I realized now it’s my chance to change someone’s life and tell a story that was almost erased,” Questlove said in an interview when “Summer of Soul” debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, and won both the Grand Jury and Audience prizes for documentary. “Summer of Soul” can be seen as part of a larger movement to uncover Black history, from tragic events like the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921 to celebratory, joyous ones like the Harlem Cultural Festival.