1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,560 Speaker 1: If there was such a thing as a time machine, 2 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:08,920 Speaker 1: and Gary Stromberg could step inside this wondrous contraption and 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: travel back in time to experience just one performance from 4 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:18,560 Speaker 1: the Zaire seventy four concert. Again, which performance would he choose? 5 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:23,520 Speaker 2: Wow, James Brown's the obvious one because of the intense 6 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 2: enthusiasm of the audience, and he really did perform. I mean, 7 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 2: he's the godfather of soul for a reason. Yeah, it 8 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 2: would have to be James Brown. 9 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:35,720 Speaker 1: Gary, who was the music festival's pr man, is still 10 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: singing the praises of what he experienced. Really, the entire 11 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:42,120 Speaker 1: festival was something to behold. 12 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:46,240 Speaker 2: The Crusaders I thought they were great, Spinners were great? 13 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:49,159 Speaker 2: Who else? And find y'all starts were wonderful. 14 00:00:49,479 --> 00:00:52,800 Speaker 1: If you were there, you would easily understand why he 15 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:56,800 Speaker 1: might have trouble picking just one performance. Gary was there. 16 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:00,120 Speaker 1: He knows how incredible the three day concert was, but 17 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:03,120 Speaker 1: he also knows what it took to make sure it 18 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:07,039 Speaker 1: even happened. He knows intimately how unlikely it was that 19 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:09,840 Speaker 1: they could pull it off, but they did. They beat 20 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:13,920 Speaker 1: the odds. Gary and really his friends, the festival directors 21 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,840 Speaker 1: Hugh and Stu, pulled it off Zaire. Seventy four was 22 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 1: one of those rare peak moments in world culture and 23 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:25,560 Speaker 1: it all went down in Zaire. So I wondered what 24 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:30,400 Speaker 1: did the locals think about those famous American pop superstars 25 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 1: who'd come all the way to Kinshasa to perform for them. 26 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:36,759 Speaker 2: While James Brown was obviously the biggest star, they were 27 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:40,640 Speaker 2: very welcoming to all of the talent, both they're African 28 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:44,120 Speaker 2: musicians as well as the American musicians. For them, it 29 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:46,400 Speaker 2: was a really joyous experience as well. 30 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:51,680 Speaker 1: People overflowed the stadium turnstiles eager to see the American 31 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:56,040 Speaker 1: black performers, but also they were equally, if not more 32 00:01:56,160 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 1: excited about the African megastars and the Afro carena in performers. 33 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:05,840 Speaker 2: It was a festival seating. The field was open standing 34 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:08,720 Speaker 2: remotely and then the sides of the stadium were filled 35 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:10,639 Speaker 2: up as well with well, I don't think it was 36 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:12,519 Speaker 2: reserve seating. It was just they opened the doors and 37 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:15,079 Speaker 2: let anybody you could sit wherever you wanted to. But 38 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:18,240 Speaker 2: the field was just totally filled with people dancing and 39 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:20,640 Speaker 2: just loving what they were seeing. They were having a 40 00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:21,399 Speaker 2: great time. 41 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 3: With A seventy four with him and Stu was like, Hey, 42 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:29,520 Speaker 3: let's get all the biggest black artists on the planet 43 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:33,360 Speaker 3: on a plane to Africa and do a concert for 44 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:33,840 Speaker 3: this fight. 45 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:38,400 Speaker 4: I mean, this is a festival above and beyond any 46 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:43,359 Speaker 4: even Woodstock. There'd be albums that there'd be a documentary. 47 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:46,480 Speaker 5: Just seeing them in the marketplace, seeing them hanging out 48 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:49,440 Speaker 5: in the hotel, seeing them play with one another like that. 49 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:53,600 Speaker 5: Whole that was just a revelation. So you immediately get 50 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:57,920 Speaker 5: the sense that you're in this incredibly special place, and 51 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:00,200 Speaker 5: it was a kind of responsibility that goes with them. 52 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:03,280 Speaker 5: For me personally, some of the greatest musical artists who 53 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:03,959 Speaker 5: ever lived. 54 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,919 Speaker 6: The whole experience of the Zaire Kid Shata was unbelievable. 55 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:12,120 Speaker 4: The American side, James Brown is the headliner. 56 00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:15,280 Speaker 7: You had bb King, you had Big Black who was 57 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:19,840 Speaker 7: just so bigger than life. You had the Pointer Sisters, 58 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 7: you had Sister Sledge and they were so sweet and adorable. 59 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:30,560 Speaker 4: Franco and his jazz orchestra, tabou Let and his rumba orchestra, 60 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:36,040 Speaker 4: Johnny Puchecko, Celia Cruz, Ray Barretto, I mean, everybody is there. 61 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:40,640 Speaker 8: I remember the Spinners, and to me, springtime didn't start 62 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:42,640 Speaker 8: until I could hear could it be on Falling in 63 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:44,760 Speaker 8: Love on the radio. You know, people don't know these 64 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:47,720 Speaker 8: acts now necessarily, but they were huge. 65 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:50,040 Speaker 9: I was in odd at all the different celebrities that 66 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 9: were there. 67 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:53,440 Speaker 7: This was my first big concert. 68 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:55,920 Speaker 3: And then being able to share this energy with like 69 00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:58,840 Speaker 3: and sit in the wonder of how excited like everyone 70 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 3: in zaire, all these Africans are that y'all are here. 71 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:18,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Rumble, the story of Ali Foreman and the 72 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 1: Soul Music of nineteen seventy four. I'm your host, Zarren Burnett, 73 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 1: the IID from iHeart Podcast and School of Humans. This 74 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:38,120 Speaker 1: is Rumble. Previously on Rumble with Lamumba out of the way, 75 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:40,800 Speaker 1: you get Mubutu, who's the. 76 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:44,839 Speaker 7: Biggest kleptocrat you can imagine, and we do the bidding 77 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:47,839 Speaker 7: of the United States because it lined his pockets there 78 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:50,159 Speaker 7: still getting what they were getting before, but with a 79 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:51,680 Speaker 7: black face in front. 80 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:55,440 Speaker 2: This was a dictatorship out and out. People were terribly 81 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:56,440 Speaker 2: fearful of this guy. 82 00:04:56,680 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 10: All these soldiers come out of nowhere, turn their guns 83 00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 10: on mccraft. 84 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:05,359 Speaker 7: I got to go to the marketplace and meet the 85 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:06,159 Speaker 7: different people. 86 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:09,559 Speaker 8: George's I ain't cut that bad you saw how fat 87 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:09,960 Speaker 8: he is. 88 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:20,000 Speaker 1: He's about to lose his title. It's September nineteen seventy 89 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:23,560 Speaker 1: four and Wally Bean, an American press agent, travels to 90 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:27,680 Speaker 1: Kinshasa to cover the music festival. Once he gets situated 91 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:31,360 Speaker 1: the white press agent Bean writes a series of letters 92 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:35,279 Speaker 1: back to the US. Highlights are published reporting on what 93 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:39,600 Speaker 1: all there is to see here, eat and experience in Zaire. 94 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:43,239 Speaker 1: From a syndicated story, Wally Bean reports. 95 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:45,479 Speaker 11: Thought you would like to know that the James Bond 96 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:47,960 Speaker 11: influence has reached the Old Congo now known as Zaire. 97 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:51,920 Speaker 11: The native self tourists' authentic spears that break down into 98 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:54,160 Speaker 11: three parts they could fit in a suitcase. Despite all 99 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 11: the scare stories that appeared in the American press, Kinshasa, 100 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:00,840 Speaker 11: formerly known as Leopoldville, is proving about as dangerous as 101 00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:02,760 Speaker 11: Philadelphia on a Sunday afternoon. 102 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 1: To bring his point home, the press agent Waldy Bean 103 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:09,080 Speaker 1: gives an example of the sort of dark hearted and 104 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:12,800 Speaker 1: scurrilous characters that he does have to worry about running 105 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:16,599 Speaker 1: into in Kinshasa. It's mainly a band of ego driven 106 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:17,600 Speaker 1: American writers. 107 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:19,920 Speaker 11: We're having great fun with his I year seventy four 108 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,839 Speaker 11: music concerts, and the only dangerous characters I've met are 109 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:26,359 Speaker 11: George Plimpton and Norman Mahler. George wants to go up 110 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:29,560 Speaker 11: the Congo River in a canoe or some such. Mailer's 111 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:32,120 Speaker 11: in a bad mood because his stomach is upset. Usually 112 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:33,599 Speaker 11: when Mailer gets in a bad mood, he wants to 113 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:36,240 Speaker 11: fight somebody. One night at Hugh Hefner's house, he wanted 114 00:06:36,279 --> 00:06:40,840 Speaker 11: to fight Bud Sholberg. Scholberg refused because he once had 115 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 11: refused to fight Ernest Hemingway and he didn't want to 116 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:44,680 Speaker 11: step down in class. 117 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 1: Part of Mahler's irritability was due to the fact that, 118 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 1: as the Asberry Park Press noted in its September twenty 119 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:54,000 Speaker 1: fifth edition from nineteen seventy four. 120 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:57,840 Speaker 12: The super fight of the Century has been postponed until 121 00:06:57,920 --> 00:06:58,760 Speaker 12: late October. 122 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:02,520 Speaker 1: That's the reason in for Mailer's mood. However, the good 123 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:05,200 Speaker 1: news is for folks other than Norman Mailer. 124 00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:09,480 Speaker 12: But a super cultural festival bringing together Latin American, Afro 125 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:13,400 Speaker 12: American and African dancers and singers will nonetheless get underway 126 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:17,760 Speaker 12: here on Saturday, only one day later than scheduled In 127 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:18,600 Speaker 12: the days. 128 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:22,320 Speaker 1: Before that same Zaire seventy four music festival kicks off. 129 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:25,920 Speaker 1: The streets of kinshasa are a buzz with people. The 130 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:30,440 Speaker 1: city pulses with traffic, the hum of pedestrians, and the 131 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:34,960 Speaker 1: colorful commotion of street business comes alive as the sounds 132 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:37,720 Speaker 1: of the peddlers and the merchants fill the air. There's 133 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:42,440 Speaker 1: a carnivalesque spirit. There's also an ambient, free floating sense 134 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:46,720 Speaker 1: of anticipation, and, as one newsman from the Associated Press 135 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:49,240 Speaker 1: reports from the capital of Zayre, the. 136 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:52,040 Speaker 13: City of more than one million throbs with music throughout 137 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:54,880 Speaker 13: the night. The parking lot in front of the luxurious 138 00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:58,240 Speaker 13: Intercontinental Hotel has been turned into a vast open air 139 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:01,280 Speaker 13: entertainment area, with up to two twenty five dancers performing 140 00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:04,400 Speaker 13: at a time. The band plays for hours without stopping, 141 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:07,720 Speaker 13: the musicians taking a breather, one at a time. 142 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:11,920 Speaker 1: This same writer also relies on the old tropes of 143 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:14,400 Speaker 1: Africa to make sense of it all. To the folks 144 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:15,080 Speaker 1: back home. 145 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:18,480 Speaker 13: Outsider's fine, the roar of the bulldozer has long since 146 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:20,160 Speaker 13: replaced the roar of the lion. 147 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:25,240 Speaker 1: Here and then he follows that choice metaphor with this observation. 148 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 13: Visitors are likely to find that instead of crocodiles. The 149 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:31,240 Speaker 13: mighty Congo River running by the city is more likely 150 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:34,960 Speaker 13: to feature water skiers enjoying themselves in the sun. Instead 151 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:37,760 Speaker 13: of a dinner featuring wild gang cooked over a campfire. 152 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:41,400 Speaker 13: Most visitors enjoy meat and foul flown in from other 153 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:44,520 Speaker 13: areas with the bottle of houdon Cade or some other 154 00:08:44,559 --> 00:08:45,320 Speaker 13: French wine. 155 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:48,960 Speaker 1: You hear it right, Lions, crocodiles, bush beat and the 156 00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:54,000 Speaker 1: Congo River versus the water skiers, bulldozers and French wine. 157 00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:57,840 Speaker 1: This ap writer wants his readers to know civilization and 158 00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:01,160 Speaker 1: modernity have finally arrived in the dark heart of Africa. 159 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:04,760 Speaker 1: That's the subtext, and in case you weren't sure, that 160 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:08,360 Speaker 1: was the point. The writer makes his intent inescapable when 161 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:09,280 Speaker 1: he writes. 162 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:12,800 Speaker 13: The Africa of the Tarzan movies does not exist in 163 00:09:12,840 --> 00:09:15,520 Speaker 13: some parts of this vast country about the size of 164 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:19,120 Speaker 13: the western United States. In one area, there's a tribe 165 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:21,520 Speaker 13: of pygmies that still live in the trees to protect 166 00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:25,160 Speaker 13: themselves from the animals. There is relatively little tourist business 167 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:28,480 Speaker 13: in Zaire at present, but a steady stream of businessmen 168 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:33,200 Speaker 13: involved in the mining industries gold, silver, copper keep the 169 00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:34,120 Speaker 13: hotels filled. 170 00:09:34,960 --> 00:09:38,160 Speaker 1: In other words, before the Zaire seventy four festival and 171 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:41,760 Speaker 1: the Rumble in the Jungle, most of the pale faced 172 00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:45,080 Speaker 1: folks who traveled to Zaire came to take advantage of 173 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:50,360 Speaker 1: the postcolonial nation. Primarily, they came from the extractive industries 174 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:55,160 Speaker 1: who helped put Mabutu in power. They were after gold, silver, copper, 175 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:59,160 Speaker 1: box site. And now Mabutu wants his nation to become 176 00:09:59,240 --> 00:10:03,040 Speaker 1: a new plague for the white and wealthy, like Kenya 177 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:06,440 Speaker 1: was for the Brits at the time. And Mabutu knows 178 00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 1: the best way to draw the westerners in is with 179 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:14,000 Speaker 1: some black culture. Thus the three day concert and heavyweight 180 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:17,840 Speaker 1: title fight that sold as a global celebration of blackness, 181 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:21,360 Speaker 1: a spectacle that would be, as Don King might say, 182 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:25,280 Speaker 1: the lux the world has never seen before. But this 183 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:28,760 Speaker 1: moment is about more than that. It's really a celebration 184 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:32,360 Speaker 1: of the African diaspora. It's a homecoming for a far 185 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:37,120 Speaker 1: flung family, one still loosely connected by blackness and the 186 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:42,400 Speaker 1: bonds of culture. As the billboards standing tall over kinshasa proclaim, 187 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:47,720 Speaker 1: welcome to the land of your ancestors. This moment marks 188 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:51,800 Speaker 1: a reconnection of those family bonds, the ones that were 189 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:57,360 Speaker 1: intentionally severed by the Transatlantic slave trade. Yet those bonds 190 00:10:57,520 --> 00:11:00,679 Speaker 1: could not be fully broken, and the sound of the 191 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:04,200 Speaker 1: drum is proof of that. Back to the Asberry Park 192 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:05,959 Speaker 1: Press and their reports. 193 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:09,480 Speaker 13: The main beat up the Zaiyir Festival, already being drummed 194 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:12,160 Speaker 13: in the streets of Conshata this past week is the 195 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:15,720 Speaker 13: calypso Zayiyan that African slaves took from the country last 196 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:19,319 Speaker 13: century to the New World, where it still flourishes, particularly 197 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:21,240 Speaker 13: in the Caribbean and Latin America. 198 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:24,840 Speaker 1: The rhythms of the drum are all the evidence one 199 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:29,880 Speaker 1: needs to know the family has come home. In the theater, 200 00:11:30,040 --> 00:11:32,960 Speaker 1: there's an age old maxim the show must go on. 201 00:11:33,679 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 1: Boxing promoter Don King lived by that same logic. 202 00:11:37,679 --> 00:11:41,520 Speaker 4: When George Foreman gets cut in training, the music festival 203 00:11:41,559 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 4: has to go on. 204 00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:47,160 Speaker 1: As Lewis Ehrenberg, author of the book Rumble in the Jungle, recounts, 205 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:51,320 Speaker 1: it just isn't possible to reschedule the entire event. The 206 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:54,920 Speaker 1: reason for that was simple. It came down to three words, 207 00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:57,240 Speaker 1: schedules and contracts. 208 00:11:57,559 --> 00:12:01,400 Speaker 4: All these artists have other commitments. They can't hang around 209 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:05,520 Speaker 4: for another five weeks to see if Horman the cut 210 00:12:05,559 --> 00:12:06,479 Speaker 4: will heal. 211 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:10,320 Speaker 1: Which means the fight promoters and festival directors must make 212 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:14,760 Speaker 1: a difficult decision the three day Music Festival Zaire seventy four. 213 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:19,680 Speaker 4: But gets separated from the fight and any interest tourists coming, 214 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:23,120 Speaker 4: flight fans around the globe. I mean that just burns out, 215 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:25,920 Speaker 4: That doesn't really happen in a major way, and it 216 00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:28,439 Speaker 4: kills much of the festival itself. 217 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:31,800 Speaker 1: The whole point of having Muhammad Ali and George Foreman 218 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:34,920 Speaker 1: come to Zaiir for the rumble in the jungle, and 219 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:38,360 Speaker 1: then the rationale for adding the three day music festival 220 00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:41,760 Speaker 1: was the guarantee that the eyes and the ears of 221 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:46,040 Speaker 1: the world would be on Zayir. Now Mabutu has invested 222 00:12:46,120 --> 00:12:49,840 Speaker 1: roughly twenty million dollars for this global advertisement of his 223 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:53,280 Speaker 1: power and the prestige of his nation, and it's all 224 00:12:53,400 --> 00:12:57,800 Speaker 1: coming undone. It risks becoming an absolute failure on the 225 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:02,199 Speaker 1: world stage. But then, if you'll remember, Howard Cosell agrees 226 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:05,040 Speaker 1: not to break the news of Foremans cut during Monday 227 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:08,440 Speaker 1: night football, so the musicians then get on the plane 228 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:12,280 Speaker 1: and all fly over to Zaire. Anyway, a lie saves 229 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:15,640 Speaker 1: the day. Or maybe the temporary omission of the truth 230 00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:19,240 Speaker 1: saves the day. Either way, there is no way on 231 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:21,800 Speaker 1: God's green earth that James Brown would have flown to 232 00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:24,959 Speaker 1: Zaire if he had known the truth. And no James Brown, 233 00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:30,400 Speaker 1: no show, this move true Dambutu and Don King saves 234 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:33,360 Speaker 1: the day. Now the musicians are in Zaire and the 235 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:40,400 Speaker 1: show goes on. Zaire seventy four brought black music and 236 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:43,959 Speaker 1: black voices from both Africa and America to the stage, 237 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:45,560 Speaker 1: and that's a beautiful thing. 238 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:52,440 Speaker 14: I'm thinking about the longstanding relationship that black folks in 239 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:56,600 Speaker 14: America in particular have had with the notion and the 240 00:13:56,679 --> 00:13:59,760 Speaker 14: concept and the performance and the expression of what we 241 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:04,120 Speaker 14: call song, and how songs have been a channel for 242 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:09,920 Speaker 14: us to kind of focus center, reclaim, recoup our humanity. 243 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:12,400 Speaker 1: That's Lenae Denise. 244 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:16,240 Speaker 14: I am known. Maybe perhaps in the broader world is 245 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:17,920 Speaker 14: DJ lene Denise. 246 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:21,360 Speaker 1: Being a music scholar. DJ Lenee Denise thinks a lot 247 00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:24,480 Speaker 1: about the history and theory and the meaning of music 248 00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:28,080 Speaker 1: and culture, like, for example, W. E. 249 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:33,120 Speaker 14: Du Boyce's notion of sorrow songs and him thinking about 250 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:36,200 Speaker 14: the old Negro spiritual as a place of refuge but 251 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:39,800 Speaker 14: also as a sort of cluoded speak, and perhaps the 252 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:42,840 Speaker 14: roots of what he refers to as double consciousness right 253 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:49,040 Speaker 14: is that we have never had really the luxury, following 254 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:53,880 Speaker 14: the enslavement of folks to kind of have a non 255 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:55,800 Speaker 14: political relationship with music. 256 00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:59,960 Speaker 1: There is one inescapable reality of racism for black people. 257 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:04,320 Speaker 1: Each of us is representative of all black people. Thus, 258 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:07,440 Speaker 1: everything that a black artist creates or puts out into 259 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:11,280 Speaker 1: the world can be treated as social commentary and can 260 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:15,080 Speaker 1: also be treated as commentary on the ever evolving notion 261 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:19,040 Speaker 1: of blackness. The thing is, Black America is aware that 262 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:22,120 Speaker 1: the world is always listening to us. This dates back 263 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:25,920 Speaker 1: to the days of enslavement. Thus, anything a Black American 264 00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:29,600 Speaker 1: says in public is coded for our safety. There is 265 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:31,880 Speaker 1: what we can say amongst each other, and it is 266 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:33,960 Speaker 1: not the same as what we can say in our 267 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:36,840 Speaker 1: artwork or in our speeches, in our books, in poetry, 268 00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:40,520 Speaker 1: or even in our interviews in foreign countries. This awareness, 269 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:44,040 Speaker 1: this shared self consciousness of our double existence as a 270 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:47,720 Speaker 1: person and as a black person, perhaps can most easily 271 00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:49,920 Speaker 1: be felt by others in our music. 272 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:52,600 Speaker 14: That isn't to say that every time we touch a 273 00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:56,080 Speaker 14: song it's political, but I think that ultimately given the 274 00:15:56,120 --> 00:15:59,560 Speaker 14: conditions under which we find ourselves as descendants of folks 275 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:02,680 Speaker 14: who are in slaved. Music is a political force. 276 00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:06,280 Speaker 1: Music has always been a part of black social movements, 277 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:09,120 Speaker 1: even going back to folk songs and the blues and 278 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 1: vaudeville their social commentary in all of it. In the 279 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:17,360 Speaker 1: mid twentieth century America that became more intentional. Music became 280 00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:19,240 Speaker 1: more distinctly political. 281 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:26,680 Speaker 14: The nineteen fifties gospel movement that was absolutely fueled by politics. 282 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:30,280 Speaker 14: When you consider the fact that Martin Luther King would travel, 283 00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:33,640 Speaker 14: you know, many times to Detroit to be in conversation 284 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:39,040 Speaker 14: with Arita Franklin's father, CEO Franklin, fundraising, and so that 285 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:42,640 Speaker 14: golden age of gospel is overlooked as being a real 286 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:46,600 Speaker 14: important Black musical grounding moment when you think about folks 287 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:51,120 Speaker 14: like Sam Cook, who was politically astute and also encouraging 288 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:55,320 Speaker 14: black folks to own their own labels as an extension 289 00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:58,360 Speaker 14: of political activism and the civil rights movement. 290 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:02,320 Speaker 1: The sixties saw on you mental anthems from the likes 291 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:06,639 Speaker 1: of Sam Cook, Nina Simone, the Staples singers. Their music 292 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:10,560 Speaker 1: often described the struggle or bolstered the movements for change 293 00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:15,640 Speaker 1: then in nineteen sixty eight, James Brown dropped any pretext 294 00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:20,920 Speaker 1: or coy poetic metaphor. He decided, in his inimitable James 295 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:23,880 Speaker 1: Brown way, to just say it with his chest when 296 00:17:24,080 --> 00:17:28,320 Speaker 1: he drops this new black national anthem for the streets. 297 00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:31,600 Speaker 1: As you may recall, there was his era defining song 298 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:35,280 Speaker 1: say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud. That song 299 00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:38,480 Speaker 1: shook up the world. It became the soundtrack for the 300 00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:42,840 Speaker 1: long hot summers of the late sixties, and suddenly all 301 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:47,359 Speaker 1: sorts of other performers, athletes, Hollywood stars, they were all 302 00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:50,520 Speaker 1: saying the same thing. In the world of sports. This 303 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:53,800 Speaker 1: new wave of Black pride was of course, led by 304 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:58,440 Speaker 1: the ever defiant Muhammad al Li. These musicians, they're documenting 305 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:01,840 Speaker 1: all of this in song and presenting it on stage 306 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:02,560 Speaker 1: in Zaire. 307 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:06,240 Speaker 14: Our stories are coming through the lyrics, are coming through 308 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:08,600 Speaker 14: lived experience, or coming through the rhythms. 309 00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:12,720 Speaker 1: At the Festival Zaire seventy four, those rhythms reunite this 310 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:16,119 Speaker 1: separated family, the music and the heritage of the Black 311 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:26,760 Speaker 1: diaspora now home again in Africa. In the final days 312 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:30,200 Speaker 1: before the shows began, the bands and the superstar performers 313 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:32,600 Speaker 1: spend their days in rehearsal we. 314 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:33,320 Speaker 9: Were on stage. 315 00:18:33,640 --> 00:18:36,800 Speaker 7: We had to rehearse because Fred Wesley would rehearse the 316 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:38,639 Speaker 7: band and the dancers had to be there for the 317 00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:41,159 Speaker 7: whole thing to make sure that we knew what the 318 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:43,600 Speaker 7: rundown of the show was going to be. And we 319 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:45,320 Speaker 7: had a choreograph to that. 320 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:48,439 Speaker 1: That's Low of Love Dancer for James Brown, and she 321 00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:49,679 Speaker 1: recalls how. 322 00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:51,960 Speaker 7: So when we were there in the daytime, you saw 323 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:55,639 Speaker 7: all the different people who were like claiming the tallest 324 00:18:56,040 --> 00:18:59,880 Speaker 7: polls to hang those amps and those speakers. Because the sound, 325 00:19:00,359 --> 00:19:03,000 Speaker 7: I was like, this is going to be like something 326 00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:04,119 Speaker 7: that from out of space. 327 00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:08,639 Speaker 1: When they weren't rehearsing, the stars and performers enjoyed the 328 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:13,240 Speaker 1: day's sightseeing in Zaire. Thanks to the documentary film Creves, 329 00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:16,160 Speaker 1: those rare moments are captured for posterity. 330 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:20,400 Speaker 5: These revelations are like when they're in the market, particularly 331 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:22,439 Speaker 5: it's Fanya, but it was the rest of them, like 332 00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:25,320 Speaker 5: interacting to people or playing the music like they just 333 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:30,240 Speaker 5: felt electrified being around folks that had such wonderful energy. 334 00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:34,080 Speaker 1: And that's Jeffrey Kusama Hinti, editor of the Fight film 335 00:19:34,119 --> 00:19:37,120 Speaker 1: When We Were Kings and director of the music festival 336 00:19:37,119 --> 00:19:40,200 Speaker 1: film Soul Power, both of which focus on the days 337 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:43,040 Speaker 1: of Zaire seventy four and the Rumble in the Jungle. 338 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:45,639 Speaker 5: I don't think anybody knew who the spinners were in 339 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:48,320 Speaker 5: Zayre or not many any people knew who James Brown was, 340 00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:52,280 Speaker 5: and yet there was this kind of connection that was formed. 341 00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:55,439 Speaker 5: I think particularly the artists felt that, you know, carry 342 00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:58,119 Speaker 5: them along, and I really believe that it's some of 343 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:00,919 Speaker 5: their best recordings. I mean, if you listen to the recordings, 344 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:05,680 Speaker 5: the energy and the passion, it was just truly phenomenal. 345 00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:10,440 Speaker 1: Zay Year seventy four began as the dream and creation 346 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:14,720 Speaker 1: of two men, Hugh Masekela and Stuart Levine, and Hugh 347 00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:18,520 Speaker 1: Masekela's son Selemma remembers how his father, Hugh. 348 00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:21,560 Speaker 3: Was so excited and it brought him so much joy 349 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:25,640 Speaker 3: to know that, like, if I can get James and 350 00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:29,600 Speaker 3: Bill and all these folks, if I can let the 351 00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:32,360 Speaker 3: continent touch them in this way, then when they get 352 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:34,360 Speaker 3: back home, they're going to be tell everybody like Yo, 353 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:37,240 Speaker 3: Africa's popping. 354 00:20:37,560 --> 00:20:41,200 Speaker 1: Finally, after years of dreaming and months of working their 355 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:44,919 Speaker 1: asses off, the moment has finally arrived and as the 356 00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:48,239 Speaker 1: show kicks off, their plans and hopes seem to be 357 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:48,960 Speaker 1: coming true. 358 00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:51,800 Speaker 3: Then you see that in the experiences, in the wide 359 00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:54,399 Speaker 3: eyed discovery that all of those musicians and artists have, 360 00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:57,600 Speaker 3: and then being able to like share this energy with 361 00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:00,919 Speaker 3: like and sit in the wonder of how excited like 362 00:21:01,119 --> 00:21:04,359 Speaker 3: everyone in Zaire and all these Africans are that y'all 363 00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:07,800 Speaker 3: are here. And that was really his question. It was 364 00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:10,720 Speaker 3: things like that that gave his soul Pete. 365 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:14,959 Speaker 1: On Sunday, September twenty second, nineteen seventy four, the doors 366 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:18,520 Speaker 1: to the Arena Stadium in kinshasa finally swing open and 367 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:22,000 Speaker 1: let in the crowd. The opening night is filled with 368 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:25,840 Speaker 1: all the promise of the festival. The bands, who rehearsed 369 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:29,639 Speaker 1: for days are backstage ready, yet also a little nervous 370 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:33,399 Speaker 1: to perform. Some gather in small circles. They make jokes 371 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:36,959 Speaker 1: to break up the tension and alleviate the jitters. The 372 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:41,120 Speaker 1: festival directors stalk the hallways there for any last minute 373 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:45,040 Speaker 1: hiccups or emergencies, but they have to be feeling proud 374 00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:48,119 Speaker 1: of their accomplishment. They've done it. The show will go 375 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:51,520 Speaker 1: on with some of the biggest names in music taking 376 00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:55,520 Speaker 1: the stage, the speakers blasting, and a buzz among those 377 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:59,920 Speaker 1: locals and attendance. The vibe inside the eighty thousand seat 378 00:22:00,440 --> 00:22:05,200 Speaker 1: stadium is truly a special moment in time. The first 379 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:07,840 Speaker 1: act to take the stage for the opening night is 380 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:10,080 Speaker 1: the American group The Spinners. 381 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:15,800 Speaker 7: I remember The Spinners were on and I was in 382 00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:17,240 Speaker 7: the wings watching. 383 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:19,520 Speaker 9: The show because I'm finally getting to see the show again. 384 00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:22,360 Speaker 1: That's James Brown's dancer, Lola Love, and. 385 00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:24,679 Speaker 7: The manager tells me to run out there and grab 386 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:26,560 Speaker 7: Filipe Win and hug him. 387 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:28,200 Speaker 9: I said, I'm. 388 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:30,040 Speaker 7: Sorry, I can't do that. If I would have did that, 389 00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:32,920 Speaker 7: James Brown would have fired me. Okay, No, I could 390 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:33,720 Speaker 7: not go out there. 391 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:37,280 Speaker 1: Her fear of her boss, James Brown, overcomes the fact 392 00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:41,640 Speaker 1: that she desperately wants to go out there on stage. 393 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:44,960 Speaker 9: Like I was a crazy person or crazy about the Spinners. 394 00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:48,439 Speaker 9: They're amazing, but I would never do that, not with 395 00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:50,280 Speaker 9: James Brown. They were amazing though. 396 00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:53,399 Speaker 1: After the Spinners leave the stage, they're followed by a 397 00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:59,240 Speaker 1: Zayiian group called tp Okay Jazz. They invite Franco a 398 00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:03,440 Speaker 1: zayiretar and a consultant for Zaire seventy four to join 399 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:07,320 Speaker 1: them on stage. The Zayirean pop group plays off kilter 400 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:12,040 Speaker 1: jazzy dance music. It's an eleven song set. It features 401 00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:15,720 Speaker 1: a guitar player, Franco, and that's an interesting choice. Earlier 402 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:19,480 Speaker 1: he was an advocate for Mabutu and his campaign of authenticity, 403 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:22,840 Speaker 1: but more recently he's come out as a critic of 404 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:27,800 Speaker 1: the Mabutu regime. However, on this night, Franco and Tpok 405 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:31,479 Speaker 1: Jazz just focus on the music and the crowd and 406 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:35,399 Speaker 1: the rhythm. With Franco on guitar. The band's seven piece 407 00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:39,760 Speaker 1: brass section is backed by super tight drums. The lead 408 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:43,760 Speaker 1: singer among the front line of singers is a Zayirean 409 00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:47,440 Speaker 1: musician named Sam Mangwana. He's the son of an Angolan 410 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:51,840 Speaker 1: mother and a Zimbabwean father, and he's a captivating presence 411 00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:57,720 Speaker 1: on stage. After the sunshiny pop sound in the full 412 00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:02,119 Speaker 1: stage of Franco and Tpok Jazz, the next act is 413 00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:05,679 Speaker 1: an American folk singer. It's just him and his guitar, 414 00:24:06,359 --> 00:24:09,919 Speaker 1: but that's all he needs. If anyone can command the 415 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:12,320 Speaker 1: stage alone, it's Bill Withers. 416 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:17,160 Speaker 9: He was so soulful with that guitar and his voice. 417 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:20,639 Speaker 7: The voice became an instrument and it was just so 418 00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:22,720 Speaker 7: mesmerizing and soulful. 419 00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:26,760 Speaker 1: As Bill Withers strums on his guitar, the mostly African 420 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:30,840 Speaker 1: audience is drawn into his performance, even if they can't 421 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:35,160 Speaker 1: understand his English language lyrics. As James Brown bandleader Fred 422 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:36,680 Speaker 1: Wesley recalls. 423 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:39,639 Speaker 6: Bill Withers, he didn't need a band, He didn't need anything. 424 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:42,320 Speaker 6: He was just as dynamic as everybody else with a 425 00:24:42,359 --> 00:24:45,040 Speaker 6: whole band. You know, it's better had the whole band 426 00:24:45,359 --> 00:24:47,840 Speaker 6: over there, and Dave Brown had his whole band, BBK 427 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:52,760 Speaker 6: had his bad but Bill waded by himself just trumped 428 00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:55,040 Speaker 6: all of them. It was so amade at how he 429 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:59,320 Speaker 6: could sing and the sound was perfect. Everything was perfect 430 00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:00,320 Speaker 6: about his before. 431 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:04,639 Speaker 1: And for Fred, it was there in that stadium in Conshase. 432 00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:07,680 Speaker 6: That's when I realized who Bill Woodles was. I mean, 433 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:12,360 Speaker 6: he could really sing and he could really play the guitar. 434 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:14,800 Speaker 6: You know, it was magical. 435 00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:19,320 Speaker 1: When Bill Withers breaks into song, the stadium grows quiet. 436 00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:23,679 Speaker 1: The entire crowd is united in rapt silence as they 437 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:27,200 Speaker 1: listened to Bill strum and sing his heart out for them. 438 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:31,959 Speaker 1: Not dissimilar to Miriam Mkiba, Bill Withers leaves it all 439 00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:32,800 Speaker 1: on the stage. 440 00:25:33,600 --> 00:25:36,760 Speaker 6: This song he did in Africa by himself with a 441 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:40,280 Speaker 6: guitar was another song, Ain't No Sometimes that's good, but 442 00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:43,040 Speaker 6: it's a shame. I can't remember the name of the song, 443 00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:46,080 Speaker 6: but he thinkured it was the highlight of the whole festival. 444 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:46,359 Speaker 10: You know. 445 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:50,720 Speaker 1: The song was Hope She'll be Happier. It features his 446 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:55,120 Speaker 1: overly simple guitar picking that allows the melody to hit 447 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:59,119 Speaker 1: you square in the gut. Sweat pours down his face 448 00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:03,680 Speaker 1: as he sings. Maybe the darkness of the hour makes 449 00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:08,159 Speaker 1: me seem lonelier than I am. Over the darkness, I 450 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:12,760 Speaker 1: have no power. Hope She'll be happier With him, it 451 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:13,480 Speaker 1: was perfect. 452 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:17,840 Speaker 6: It was perfectly in tune and his performance it'll make 453 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:19,800 Speaker 6: you cray. I mean, he was so good. 454 00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:24,320 Speaker 1: Thinking back on Bill Withers' performance, Gary is just as effusive. 455 00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:24,920 Speaker 13: Well. 456 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:26,720 Speaker 2: I love Bill Willers. He was a client of mine. 457 00:26:27,119 --> 00:26:29,199 Speaker 2: There were a couple people that I had gotten for 458 00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:33,239 Speaker 2: the festival, Withers being one of them. Bill Withers is 459 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:36,359 Speaker 2: just an incredible guy with an amazing backstory. 460 00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:40,919 Speaker 1: Bill Withers came from truly humble beginnings. He worked installing 461 00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:45,080 Speaker 1: restrooms in seven forty sevens and was an unlikely star. 462 00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:48,920 Speaker 1: Not to mention, he also faced a different challenge. 463 00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:50,719 Speaker 2: Bill Withers was a stutterer. 464 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:53,919 Speaker 1: However, he was able to overcome that when he was 465 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:54,560 Speaker 1: on stage. 466 00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:58,439 Speaker 2: He never stuttered when he sang, but he stuttered at 467 00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:01,200 Speaker 2: all other times. So he had a terror time communicating. 468 00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:04,280 Speaker 2: And when I got him as a client, he just 469 00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:07,120 Speaker 2: didn't think he could do this, because he could, he stuttered, 470 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:10,200 Speaker 2: and so it took a long time before he had 471 00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:14,280 Speaker 2: got the confidence to meet the press and deal with them. 472 00:27:14,359 --> 00:27:19,040 Speaker 1: Despite his self doubts and his reluctance, Bill Withers pressed on, 473 00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:22,480 Speaker 1: which led him to this stage in Zaire in nineteen 474 00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:23,160 Speaker 1: seventy four. 475 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:25,680 Speaker 2: And he was an incredible artist, you know, a very 476 00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:28,600 Speaker 2: sensitive guy, but he just needed to get the kind 477 00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:31,399 Speaker 2: of confidence. When I first had him, he just couldn't 478 00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:34,840 Speaker 2: do interviews. But as he became successful, he started to 479 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:36,760 Speaker 2: open up and it was wonderful. 480 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:39,560 Speaker 1: However, it wasn't the fame and the love and the 481 00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:43,000 Speaker 1: adulation that gave Bill Withers the confidence to blossom. 482 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:48,359 Speaker 2: Instead, Gary believes music was what allowed him to open 483 00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:49,159 Speaker 2: up to the world. 484 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:53,240 Speaker 1: Unlike many of the other American musicians who'd take the stage. 485 00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:57,160 Speaker 1: Bill Withers had already traveled the world. He'd spent nine 486 00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:00,200 Speaker 1: years in the US Navy. He'd already been to Africa. 487 00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:04,639 Speaker 1: Thus he looks out at Mabutu Zayir with more educated eyes. 488 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:07,879 Speaker 1: As The New York Times reports, Bill Withers says that 489 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:12,400 Speaker 1: he quote felt like a very privileged person in an 490 00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:16,439 Speaker 1: unprivileged setting. But while he's up there on the stage 491 00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:19,879 Speaker 1: at Zayre seventy four, Bill Withers discovers he has this 492 00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:23,879 Speaker 1: sense of the audience that feels wholly new to him. 493 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:26,959 Speaker 1: As he later tells The New York Times, quote, it 494 00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:30,680 Speaker 1: was interesting to watch the reaction of the mostly African audience. 495 00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:33,080 Speaker 1: It's like standing on the other side of the street 496 00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:36,600 Speaker 1: watching your girlfriend walk down it and seeing how other 497 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:42,720 Speaker 1: people react to her. Throughout the three day music festival, 498 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:46,600 Speaker 1: the American and African artist take turns on stage, and 499 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:49,960 Speaker 1: soon enough, out on stage comes the woman known as 500 00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:53,440 Speaker 1: Mama Africa, Miriam Makiba. 501 00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:55,920 Speaker 5: Oh, Miriam Jesus otherworldly. 502 00:28:56,640 --> 00:29:00,760 Speaker 1: That's how Jeffrey Kusama Hinti remembers Makiba's performing. It's in Zayir. 503 00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:04,600 Speaker 1: It's like Selema Masechela said about witnessing. 504 00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:10,000 Speaker 3: Her, she gave it all, Like every breath, every piece 505 00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:13,480 Speaker 3: of her chest and heart, she gave it all. 506 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:17,880 Speaker 1: When she graces the stage in Zayir, the South African exile, 507 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:23,480 Speaker 1: is demonstrably overjoyed to be performing before an African crowd again. 508 00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:27,520 Speaker 1: She's draped in a stunning dress. Her look is capped 509 00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:31,240 Speaker 1: off with an eye arresting hairdoo of the Fula tradition. 510 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:36,320 Speaker 1: She wears multi colored beads that look like balls suspended 511 00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:40,360 Speaker 1: in the braids that decorate her head. Makiba introduces herself, 512 00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:46,480 Speaker 1: telling the audience her full name, Zenzile Makiba guagshu Enguvama, 513 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:49,080 Speaker 1: and she wins a laugh from the crowd when she 514 00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:52,280 Speaker 1: makes fun of how Westerners like me can't pronounce her 515 00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:56,320 Speaker 1: name correctly. To the thrill of the audience, Mikiba sings 516 00:29:56,320 --> 00:30:00,200 Speaker 1: her songs the South African anthem I'm a Pondo, as 517 00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:03,360 Speaker 1: well as her international hit the Click Song. This is 518 00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:07,200 Speaker 1: another playful jab at westerners like me. By the way, 519 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:10,520 Speaker 1: it's called the click song because Westerners can't pronounce the 520 00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:13,680 Speaker 1: real name of the song. Next, she sings her song 521 00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:17,560 Speaker 1: unk Ko Kozo. This is followed by a ballad, a 522 00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:20,960 Speaker 1: song that her daughter Bongi wrote. The song is called 523 00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:24,959 Speaker 1: west Wind. In a break in her performance, Mikiba speaks 524 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:27,800 Speaker 1: to the mostly Zayarean crowd and then she sings a 525 00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:32,680 Speaker 1: song in Lingala in praise and honor of their dictatorial leader, Mabutu. 526 00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:37,480 Speaker 1: It's a strange thing for the internationally savvy musician to do. 527 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:41,520 Speaker 1: Perhaps she's doing it for their safety, for the safety 528 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,560 Speaker 1: of the crowd, or perhaps she sang it as a 529 00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:47,600 Speaker 1: way to allow her to sing for the African people 530 00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:52,320 Speaker 1: and connect them to themselves despite Mabutu. We do not know. 531 00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,480 Speaker 1: What we do know is that Miriam knew well what 532 00:30:55,640 --> 00:30:58,480 Speaker 1: she stood for and as an artist and as a symbol, 533 00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:01,880 Speaker 1: she'd been acting as a musical ambassador ever since she 534 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:04,440 Speaker 1: first came to the United States and was lifted up 535 00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:08,160 Speaker 1: by Harry Belafonte. To provide some context for that and 536 00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:11,840 Speaker 1: to reflect on Miriam's impact, here again is the artist 537 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:16,240 Speaker 1: in black music. Historian DJ Scholarship, I think, on. 538 00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:20,960 Speaker 14: Top of Mariam Makayba landing in the US and introducing 539 00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:23,520 Speaker 14: a US audience to I'm going to say this in 540 00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:27,360 Speaker 14: quotes to African music, because I'm not sure that once 541 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:31,600 Speaker 14: the music got there, people were super invested in understanding 542 00:31:31,800 --> 00:31:34,920 Speaker 14: distinction between countries, right, I think that they thought of 543 00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:37,720 Speaker 14: her as this kind of novelty African woman who clicked 544 00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:38,880 Speaker 14: with her mouth. 545 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:39,200 Speaker 12: Right. 546 00:31:39,680 --> 00:31:42,520 Speaker 1: In other words, most Americans and folks in the West 547 00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:48,000 Speaker 1: never saw Miriam coming, which meant they would underestimate her. Meanwhile, 548 00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:49,160 Speaker 1: here's this. 549 00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:52,880 Speaker 14: Woman who was well versed in African politics and oftentimes 550 00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:57,160 Speaker 14: invited back to the continent, representing South Africa and her 551 00:31:57,160 --> 00:32:00,920 Speaker 14: political struggle in exile in front of the UN right, 552 00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:03,000 Speaker 14: which again, does it fit in the narrative that we 553 00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:05,960 Speaker 14: have her as this African woman who was saved from 554 00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:06,680 Speaker 14: her country. 555 00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:10,040 Speaker 1: If anything, with each song she sang, she'd come to 556 00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:14,640 Speaker 1: help bring Black Americans back home because with Miriam Mikiba, 557 00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:16,000 Speaker 1: as my pops would. 558 00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:19,160 Speaker 15: Tell me, you could fill a kindred nature to Miriam 559 00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:23,520 Speaker 15: Mkiva's music. Next, she wasn't singing against anybody. She was 560 00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:27,160 Speaker 15: singing four all the Africans who have been spread around 561 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:31,200 Speaker 15: the world and have been separated from themselves. She was saying, no, 562 00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:34,640 Speaker 15: we know where you are, we haven't lost track of you, 563 00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:39,280 Speaker 15: and we all hi together on this Earth. No matter 564 00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:42,840 Speaker 15: how this shit happened, here we are and so you 565 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:46,680 Speaker 15: felt more connected to Africa with her than anybody else. 566 00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:57,680 Speaker 1: On day two of Zire seventy four, things change noticeably. 567 00:32:58,080 --> 00:33:00,200 Speaker 1: For the first night, the size of the crowd is 568 00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:01,560 Speaker 1: somewhat underwhelming. 569 00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:05,400 Speaker 2: This was a three day festival and we were hopeful 570 00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:08,360 Speaker 2: of selling out the three days. But so the first 571 00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:11,160 Speaker 2: night of the festival that almost nobody was there and 572 00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:14,000 Speaker 2: we were stunned. How did that happen? Why we thought 573 00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:15,040 Speaker 2: it was really going well. 574 00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:17,920 Speaker 1: But the truth was, on that first night the eighty 575 00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:20,480 Speaker 1: thousand seat stadium was barely half full. 576 00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:24,760 Speaker 2: Why turns out Mabutu had not signed off on it, 577 00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:28,720 Speaker 2: had not given permission to attend the festival, and people 578 00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:31,560 Speaker 2: wouldn't go unless they got permissioned from Mabutu. 579 00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:33,960 Speaker 1: Based on what we just heard last episode, you can 580 00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:38,480 Speaker 1: understand well why the Zayirean crowd wouldn't want to cross Mabutu. 581 00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:41,960 Speaker 1: For Zai Year seventy four. To be any kind of success, 582 00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:45,000 Speaker 1: someone would need to go and speak with the dictator 583 00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:46,440 Speaker 1: and get Mabuutu's blessing. 584 00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:51,160 Speaker 2: Someone from our on our side got to him that 585 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:53,480 Speaker 2: day and explained to him what had happened. 586 00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:56,480 Speaker 1: It turned out to be a harmless oversight. You see, 587 00:33:56,520 --> 00:33:59,360 Speaker 1: the dictator didn't realize no one would show up unless 588 00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:01,880 Speaker 1: he told his people that it was okay. He didn't 589 00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:05,120 Speaker 1: fully realize how scared of him they were. Guess he'd 590 00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:08,240 Speaker 1: done a better job than even he was aware. Thus 591 00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:11,480 Speaker 1: all the empty seats. But that was easy enough to fix. 592 00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:13,680 Speaker 2: And the next day he came out in the media 593 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:16,560 Speaker 2: or whatever however he communicated to his people he thought 594 00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:17,120 Speaker 2: they should go. 595 00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:20,759 Speaker 1: Bet you can guess what happens next, and the. 596 00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:23,120 Speaker 2: Place was sold out the next two days. It was 597 00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:26,799 Speaker 2: magical to see nobody's showing up to selling out in 598 00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:27,400 Speaker 2: two days. 599 00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:33,000 Speaker 1: On the second day, BB King performs, the African crowd 600 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:36,960 Speaker 1: is thrilled to hear the world famous American bluesman strum 601 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:39,040 Speaker 1: on his guitar Lucille. 602 00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:41,440 Speaker 5: One of the things I've just sent shivers up my 603 00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:44,359 Speaker 5: spine is I remember, there's a shot which must be 604 00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:48,399 Speaker 5: in sole power of BB King playing and literally it's 605 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:53,120 Speaker 5: like you're rack focusing the perspiration across his face down 606 00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:58,000 Speaker 5: his guitar, and just like that intimacy which they so captured. 607 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:01,799 Speaker 1: That's what Jeffrey Kusama hin, he remembers from the footage. 608 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:04,239 Speaker 1: He also was taken by how. 609 00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:08,120 Speaker 5: That intimacy is also related to the intensity of the performance. 610 00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:12,000 Speaker 5: So I think you're really getting a deep insight into 611 00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:15,800 Speaker 5: the genius of these artists just so unique. 612 00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:19,040 Speaker 1: BB King plays a few of his big blues hits, 613 00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:22,919 Speaker 1: his guitars ache singing out into the crowd. When BB 614 00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:26,400 Speaker 1: King picks out the familiar tune of the thrill Is Gone, 615 00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:31,120 Speaker 1: the Zyirean crowd dances in time, their joyful faces glow 616 00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:32,560 Speaker 1: under the stadium lights. 617 00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:35,800 Speaker 15: BBA is going to do bb King songs and people 618 00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:38,560 Speaker 15: admired that about him. He had to hit your thrill 619 00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:42,320 Speaker 15: Is Gone, which made the top of all the charts. 620 00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:46,200 Speaker 15: So now it's like Willie Nelson doing Stardust. All of 621 00:35:46,239 --> 00:35:50,200 Speaker 15: a sudden, everybody knows about him, you know. And he 622 00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:53,520 Speaker 15: was humble and he took no shit, which is a 623 00:35:53,520 --> 00:35:56,479 Speaker 15: hell of a combination to be humble and take no shit. 624 00:35:56,800 --> 00:35:59,680 Speaker 15: So people loved him, you know. He helped introduce a 625 00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:03,600 Speaker 15: lot of people to being open to different musicians, not 626 00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:07,160 Speaker 15: even to a genre, but just to musicians. 627 00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:11,360 Speaker 1: Fellow graduate of the Chiplin Circuit, Fred Wesley, was friends 628 00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:15,200 Speaker 1: with b. B. King before they arrived in Africa. Over there, though, 629 00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:18,879 Speaker 1: Fred is struck by how BB King he felt empowered. 630 00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:23,440 Speaker 6: He just took on another aura and anxiety. He became 631 00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:24,920 Speaker 6: BB King. 632 00:36:25,239 --> 00:36:29,560 Speaker 1: You know what exactly does that mean? To become BB King? 633 00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:35,120 Speaker 6: I mean a blues artist came to Africa and he 634 00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:39,560 Speaker 6: saw how the Africa music and the blues music came together. 635 00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:42,320 Speaker 6: And I can't explain how how he took on a 636 00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:46,239 Speaker 6: bigger aura from himself. You know, in Africa, who got 637 00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:48,720 Speaker 6: B be King one of the artists, But he became 638 00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:52,120 Speaker 6: BB King, the baster of the blues. 639 00:36:52,719 --> 00:36:56,080 Speaker 1: The effect that his African homecoming had on the old 640 00:36:56,200 --> 00:36:59,560 Speaker 1: Delta blues man, It's like a revelation for King. 641 00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:04,000 Speaker 6: He talked to me like that too, you know, like yes, 642 00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:07,680 Speaker 6: I think we should do a special show. And it 643 00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:08,960 Speaker 6: was strange how he took um. 644 00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:10,319 Speaker 2: In fact, I guess we all did. 645 00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:13,279 Speaker 6: We all kind of did, but bb really got to 646 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:16,000 Speaker 6: be the star of the show there. B. B. 647 00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:20,200 Speaker 1: King's daughter Shirley King, also remembers how much the trip 648 00:37:20,239 --> 00:37:23,319 Speaker 1: to Zaire meant to her father and how it helped 649 00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:26,000 Speaker 1: him reframe his sense of himself. 650 00:37:26,600 --> 00:37:29,720 Speaker 16: Sometime, as blues artists, we don't think that our music 651 00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:32,480 Speaker 16: mean as much as his child and everything. But my 652 00:37:32,560 --> 00:37:37,640 Speaker 16: father started appreciating himself, He started appreciating who he was, 653 00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:42,239 Speaker 16: and he started appreciating the history of Africa. And he 654 00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:44,960 Speaker 16: told me, if I ever had a chance or got 655 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:47,120 Speaker 16: a chance to go over there, please do it. 656 00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:49,839 Speaker 1: The trip to zi Ear changed BB King. 657 00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:55,120 Speaker 16: It was more about my father really loving what Africa 658 00:37:55,280 --> 00:37:58,319 Speaker 16: was about and what it did to his spirits. I 659 00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:01,040 Speaker 16: think it really made it odd And. 660 00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:04,200 Speaker 1: When BB King returned home he shared his memories of 661 00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:05,560 Speaker 1: Zayir with his daughter. 662 00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:08,880 Speaker 16: When he was start talking about it, I could almost 663 00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:11,919 Speaker 16: see tears building up in his eyes. That's how much 664 00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:15,560 Speaker 16: he truly enjoyed going over there and you know, doing 665 00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:17,799 Speaker 16: this thing, and then the fact of what they were 666 00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:20,440 Speaker 16: doing it for. You know, he felt honored to be 667 00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:22,320 Speaker 16: a part of some next great. 668 00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:29,400 Speaker 1: After BB King, the Pembe Dance Troup takes the stage. 669 00:38:29,719 --> 00:38:34,000 Speaker 1: It's another African act. The dance troupe is massive. There 670 00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:37,360 Speaker 1: are three hundred members of the ensemble that take the 671 00:38:37,360 --> 00:38:41,000 Speaker 1: stage at one point or another. It's an incredible feast 672 00:38:41,080 --> 00:38:45,120 Speaker 1: for the eyes. The dance troup. It wears colorful, exaggerated 673 00:38:45,239 --> 00:38:50,520 Speaker 1: animal inspired costumes as they engage in Zayrean ceremonial dance. 674 00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:53,359 Speaker 1: There are so many dancers on stage that at one 675 00:38:53,400 --> 00:38:58,560 Speaker 1: point the hastily constructed stage nearly collapses, but it doesn't 676 00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:02,360 Speaker 1: after that. It's an another American act, the Pointer Sisters. 677 00:39:03,800 --> 00:39:07,799 Speaker 1: Despite their eye catching costumes, the Zayirean audience doesn't know 678 00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:11,279 Speaker 1: what to make of the sister act. As photographer Lynn 679 00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:12,920 Speaker 1: Goldsmith recalls. 680 00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:15,839 Speaker 10: When they saw the Pointer Sisters, I think they were 681 00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:20,640 Speaker 10: dumbfound like why are these women dressed like this? Why 682 00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:24,279 Speaker 10: what are those songs? They were like, oh yeah, And 683 00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:27,560 Speaker 10: the Pointer Sisters were a huge American act, big in 684 00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:30,120 Speaker 10: Europe too, but no in Africa. 685 00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:36,000 Speaker 1: Bomb Overna not there himself. Jeffrey Kasama Hinti witnesses the 686 00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:39,120 Speaker 1: same thing in the footage from Zayere seventy four. 687 00:39:39,719 --> 00:39:43,360 Speaker 5: The Pointer Sisters. Their performance was very peculiar, The songs 688 00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:47,040 Speaker 5: were odd, they had this kind of carnivalesque costuming and 689 00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:49,719 Speaker 5: it was just a really it was an interesting, I 690 00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:51,000 Speaker 5: don't know what kind of performance. 691 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:51,319 Speaker 2: It was. 692 00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:55,400 Speaker 1: The same thing happens with another American act, Sister Sledge. 693 00:39:55,960 --> 00:39:59,359 Speaker 5: We have them in the rehearsal, which I just love 694 00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:02,120 Speaker 5: that scene. I mean they're like teenagers. They're young and 695 00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:05,200 Speaker 5: they're just having to blast. But their performance in the 696 00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:08,880 Speaker 5: concert was it didn't foreground what they were able to do, 697 00:40:08,960 --> 00:40:11,359 Speaker 5: and I just felt it wouldn't be fair to put 698 00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:11,640 Speaker 5: it in. 699 00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:19,399 Speaker 10: It was pretty weird how unresponsive that many people were 700 00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:23,680 Speaker 10: to so many artists who all came out there to 701 00:40:23,719 --> 00:40:26,640 Speaker 10: give their best. It was kind of like, what's going 702 00:40:26,719 --> 00:40:27,279 Speaker 10: on here? 703 00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:28,160 Speaker 6: You know? 704 00:40:28,840 --> 00:40:31,640 Speaker 10: It wasn't their kind of music. It was like just 705 00:40:31,880 --> 00:40:32,960 Speaker 10: not African. 706 00:40:34,280 --> 00:40:38,360 Speaker 1: But the mood changes again when another queen takes the stage. 707 00:40:38,680 --> 00:40:43,440 Speaker 1: When Celia Cruz graces the boards in Zayir, she's dressed 708 00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:46,800 Speaker 1: in a dazzling array of colors, her makeup on point, 709 00:40:47,080 --> 00:40:50,440 Speaker 1: her hair pulled back into a tight bun. Her stage 710 00:40:50,480 --> 00:40:54,400 Speaker 1: presence is compared to a peacock of song, and for 711 00:40:54,520 --> 00:40:57,879 Speaker 1: good reason. The Latin sounds of the Caribbean acts from 712 00:40:57,920 --> 00:41:02,200 Speaker 1: Cuba and Puerto Rico, represented by Cruz, Johnny Pacheco and 713 00:41:02,239 --> 00:41:05,160 Speaker 1: the Fania All Stars, are an instant hit with the 714 00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:09,360 Speaker 1: African audience. The performers in crowd connect through the drums, 715 00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:14,400 Speaker 1: through dancing. Because the body never lies, these driving rhythms 716 00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:18,080 Speaker 1: feel the same as when the more familiar African acts 717 00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:23,120 Speaker 1: take the stage. The music contains something recognizable back to 718 00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:26,279 Speaker 1: DJ Lenee Denise, the new eu. 719 00:41:26,239 --> 00:41:29,319 Speaker 14: Rikan sound that is rooted in the kungas and the 720 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:33,880 Speaker 14: bungo drums. There's this very deep and long standing musical 721 00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:38,239 Speaker 14: connection between the you know, the congo and Cuba, right, 722 00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:39,560 Speaker 14: So folks are coming home. 723 00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:44,120 Speaker 1: The Afro Cuban sound, the Puerto Rican polyrhythmic beats, the 724 00:41:44,200 --> 00:41:48,960 Speaker 1: congas and bongos, it is all unmistakably African in origin. 725 00:41:49,360 --> 00:41:53,640 Speaker 1: This feeling of recognition pulses through the crowd. The drums 726 00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:56,520 Speaker 1: pound in time with the people's shared heartbeat. 727 00:41:57,480 --> 00:42:01,839 Speaker 14: I think that people were able to identify each other 728 00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:05,000 Speaker 14: in the drum and the sounds and even the wallah guitar. 729 00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:08,720 Speaker 14: Because what's important here is, yes, this kind of homecoming 730 00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:12,799 Speaker 14: to the continent, but equally important is people from the 731 00:42:12,960 --> 00:42:18,960 Speaker 14: US hearing these contemporary African musicians and hearing themselves in it. 732 00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:24,120 Speaker 1: Bill Withers, for one, recognizes this connection while he is 733 00:42:24,160 --> 00:42:27,160 Speaker 1: in Zaire. In a moment captured by the documentary film 734 00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:30,960 Speaker 1: Cruise Cameras, Bill Withers says, to be be king quote, 735 00:42:31,320 --> 00:42:33,640 Speaker 1: so what we're coming back here with is what we 736 00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:36,600 Speaker 1: left here with plus the influences we picked up from 737 00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:40,120 Speaker 1: living where we live for the last three four hundred years. 738 00:42:40,880 --> 00:42:44,080 Speaker 1: So we've evolved in one corner, they've evolved in the 739 00:42:44,160 --> 00:42:46,680 Speaker 1: other corner. And now we're gonna come back. We're all 740 00:42:46,680 --> 00:42:49,799 Speaker 1: gonna listen to each other. Somebody asked me, what are 741 00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:51,919 Speaker 1: you going to bring back? Are you going to bring 742 00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:55,080 Speaker 1: back any souvenirs? Somebody wants cloth and all like that. 743 00:42:55,480 --> 00:43:00,359 Speaker 1: What I want to bring back is this feeling. Even 744 00:43:00,440 --> 00:43:05,040 Speaker 1: James Brown's funk sound owes a deep gratitude to that feeling, 745 00:43:05,440 --> 00:43:09,720 Speaker 1: to those ancient African rhythms, even though James Brown wouldn't 746 00:43:09,760 --> 00:43:11,080 Speaker 1: necessarily admit that. 747 00:43:11,680 --> 00:43:16,880 Speaker 14: James Brown famously denied his musical connection to Africa, but 748 00:43:17,080 --> 00:43:20,560 Speaker 14: yet he was the one that brought all this equipment 749 00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:25,000 Speaker 14: that endangered the lives of others right so that he 750 00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:28,600 Speaker 14: could perform in multiple places on the continent. I mean, 751 00:43:28,640 --> 00:43:30,800 Speaker 14: I just think that James Brown is such an interesting 752 00:43:30,960 --> 00:43:36,400 Speaker 14: place as a sound to think about echoes and the diaspora. 753 00:43:36,480 --> 00:43:39,719 Speaker 1: When James Brown imagined the sound of funk, he put 754 00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:42,680 Speaker 1: the emphasis of the beat on the ones. That was 755 00:43:42,719 --> 00:43:44,360 Speaker 1: a very African choice. 756 00:43:44,760 --> 00:43:48,000 Speaker 14: The question of the one and the emphasis on the one, 757 00:43:48,480 --> 00:43:51,320 Speaker 14: which is also part of a sort of African tradition, 758 00:43:51,440 --> 00:43:54,919 Speaker 14: but then also poly rhythms, right, the role of improvisation, 759 00:43:55,400 --> 00:43:57,279 Speaker 14: the role of call and response. I'm like, are you 760 00:43:57,480 --> 00:44:02,560 Speaker 14: are you sure, mister Brown? You there's no connection here. 761 00:44:03,080 --> 00:44:06,800 Speaker 1: Jeffrey Kusama Hinti said he also noticed this theme emerged 762 00:44:06,800 --> 00:44:08,520 Speaker 1: from the footage the cameras capture. 763 00:44:09,200 --> 00:44:13,799 Speaker 5: They're an susis of all those musicians were stolen from 764 00:44:13,800 --> 00:44:16,399 Speaker 5: their homes and now they're coming back. So there's that 765 00:44:16,920 --> 00:44:20,040 Speaker 5: emotional journey, but they're also coming back with the music 766 00:44:20,680 --> 00:44:24,960 Speaker 5: that retains some of those kernels, you know, so they 767 00:44:25,040 --> 00:44:29,560 Speaker 5: never it's like they never completely left or never left them. 768 00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:32,359 Speaker 5: And I think seeing that revelation among some of those 769 00:44:32,440 --> 00:44:35,160 Speaker 5: musicians is incredibly powerful. 770 00:44:35,800 --> 00:44:39,120 Speaker 1: While in Zieyar, dancer Lola Love gets interviewed by a 771 00:44:39,160 --> 00:44:43,480 Speaker 1: culture magazine aimed at a Latin American audience. In that interview, 772 00:44:43,719 --> 00:44:46,840 Speaker 1: she said she'd long been a fan of the Latin 773 00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:48,759 Speaker 1: sound she grew up hearing in New York. 774 00:44:49,680 --> 00:44:51,920 Speaker 9: First of all, I'm from New York. I'm from the Bronx. 775 00:44:51,960 --> 00:44:53,080 Speaker 9: I grew up in the fifties. 776 00:44:53,280 --> 00:44:56,400 Speaker 7: We were all doing Latin before they called it sausa. Okay, 777 00:44:56,920 --> 00:44:59,759 Speaker 7: it was Latin, so you bugaloot and you Latin dance. 778 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:03,680 Speaker 7: Pacheco is a huge star in New York because he's 779 00:45:03,719 --> 00:45:06,879 Speaker 7: Dominican and he had that pachanga sound. 780 00:45:07,080 --> 00:45:09,759 Speaker 1: Just like she'd remembered it from her girlhood. 781 00:45:09,719 --> 00:45:12,960 Speaker 7: And so when he came on stage with the Find 782 00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:17,000 Speaker 7: Your All Stars, the audience went crazy. But it was 783 00:45:17,200 --> 00:45:22,200 Speaker 7: until Saya Cruz started singing Juang Dana Nana and everybody 784 00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:25,120 Speaker 7: started singing with her like they knew. 785 00:45:24,920 --> 00:45:28,680 Speaker 1: It, which was especially notable because after the fight had 786 00:45:28,680 --> 00:45:32,239 Speaker 1: been postponed, most Westerners didn't make the long trip for 787 00:45:32,400 --> 00:45:35,160 Speaker 1: just the music festival. So the crowd at Zaire seventy 788 00:45:35,239 --> 00:45:38,520 Speaker 1: four is made up mostly of local Zairians. 789 00:45:38,920 --> 00:45:43,360 Speaker 7: And I was like, wow, Denka sing Spanish in Zayre 790 00:45:43,760 --> 00:45:47,360 Speaker 7: and the audience that was there were just cheering and 791 00:45:47,520 --> 00:45:50,640 Speaker 7: having the best time of the life. I guess they 792 00:45:50,640 --> 00:45:52,879 Speaker 7: thought they had died and gone to heaven to hear 793 00:45:53,040 --> 00:45:55,759 Speaker 7: all of this amazing music that they recognized. 794 00:45:56,200 --> 00:46:00,560 Speaker 14: There's a lot of like sort of cross cultural transal, 795 00:46:01,560 --> 00:46:07,120 Speaker 14: you know, exchange happening, and it moves beyond the US 796 00:46:07,200 --> 00:46:11,480 Speaker 14: Black Americans coming home when you bring Cuba into it. 797 00:46:11,600 --> 00:46:15,120 Speaker 14: And the FANYA record label all stars that are part 798 00:46:15,160 --> 00:46:15,440 Speaker 14: of it. 799 00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:19,840 Speaker 1: As DJ Lenee Denise notes, Celia Cruz is an important 800 00:46:19,840 --> 00:46:23,200 Speaker 1: figure at ZAI Year seventy four. She illustrates what often 801 00:46:23,239 --> 00:46:27,640 Speaker 1: goes overlooked by both Africans and Black Americans. She is 802 00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:29,280 Speaker 1: our Caribbean cousin. 803 00:46:31,280 --> 00:46:35,000 Speaker 14: There is the real interesting work of Celia Cruz being 804 00:46:35,200 --> 00:46:38,720 Speaker 14: a dark skinned Cuban woman and folks having to reckon 805 00:46:38,840 --> 00:46:42,400 Speaker 14: with what we think we mean when we say Latino. 806 00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:47,240 Speaker 14: How we oftentimes because of anti blackness, move away from 807 00:46:47,400 --> 00:46:52,520 Speaker 14: Afro Cuban, Afro Latino, Afro Latina. But Celia Cruz is 808 00:46:52,560 --> 00:46:58,600 Speaker 14: there to represent like the range in blackness, the sort 809 00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:03,359 Speaker 14: of the like multiple forms, or the diasporas within the diaspora. 810 00:47:06,520 --> 00:47:09,560 Speaker 1: Day three of the festival would be the biggest one yet. 811 00:47:09,920 --> 00:47:12,960 Speaker 1: The music festival was growing and going smoothly, save for 812 00:47:13,040 --> 00:47:16,560 Speaker 1: one small problem, seeing as it was the last day 813 00:47:16,600 --> 00:47:18,919 Speaker 1: and all they actually ran out of beer. 814 00:47:19,719 --> 00:47:24,480 Speaker 2: The country had one beer, the government's sanctioned beer. Timbo 815 00:47:24,560 --> 00:47:26,560 Speaker 2: I think it was called they ran out of beer 816 00:47:26,719 --> 00:47:27,919 Speaker 2: the second night we were there. 817 00:47:28,480 --> 00:47:31,040 Speaker 1: When he says the Zayerians ran out of beer, Gary 818 00:47:31,080 --> 00:47:33,080 Speaker 1: doesn't mean the stadium and the concert. 819 00:47:33,239 --> 00:47:36,480 Speaker 2: He means there was no more beer. There was the 820 00:47:36,600 --> 00:47:38,719 Speaker 2: big joke the country ran out of beer. 821 00:47:39,080 --> 00:47:41,840 Speaker 1: Yes, the whole nation of Zaiir ran dry. 822 00:47:42,520 --> 00:47:44,479 Speaker 2: We we're in a country that could run out of beer. 823 00:47:44,800 --> 00:47:47,920 Speaker 2: That's not what happens in America. You're not going to 824 00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:49,720 Speaker 2: run out of beer. It just made it very clear 825 00:47:49,719 --> 00:47:52,400 Speaker 2: to us that this the world was very different in 826 00:47:52,560 --> 00:47:54,879 Speaker 2: Zaire than the world that I was accustomed. 827 00:47:56,239 --> 00:47:59,280 Speaker 1: But luckily that didn't stop the music. On this third 828 00:47:59,400 --> 00:48:02,560 Speaker 1: and final day, a performer named Big Black takes the 829 00:48:02,600 --> 00:48:05,959 Speaker 1: stage and fully wins over the audience. He doesn't sing, 830 00:48:06,400 --> 00:48:10,520 Speaker 1: He just plays a drum, the naked appeal of the drum. 831 00:48:10,920 --> 00:48:14,880 Speaker 6: Big Black was a big congo player when he played 832 00:48:14,880 --> 00:48:18,239 Speaker 6: those drums. The people have reacted to that just like 833 00:48:18,320 --> 00:48:21,840 Speaker 6: he was one of their brothers, you know, and because 834 00:48:22,480 --> 00:48:26,200 Speaker 6: we were all brothers at that time, you know. But 835 00:48:26,320 --> 00:48:29,120 Speaker 6: we were all learning from each other, and we were 836 00:48:29,120 --> 00:48:32,920 Speaker 6: all learning how to teach from the same point that 837 00:48:32,960 --> 00:48:35,040 Speaker 6: we were learning from. Then. 838 00:48:35,160 --> 00:48:39,040 Speaker 1: After Big Black, an African afro funk act takes the stage. 839 00:48:39,320 --> 00:48:43,440 Speaker 1: The band is called Orchestra Afrisa International and for Zaire 840 00:48:43,560 --> 00:48:47,200 Speaker 1: seventy four they feature the singing of Tabu Levy Roscherro, 841 00:48:47,680 --> 00:48:51,239 Speaker 1: which the crowd called the Voice of Lightness. The incredible 842 00:48:51,280 --> 00:48:54,280 Speaker 1: Showman brought the African crowd to its feet to dance 843 00:48:54,320 --> 00:48:58,359 Speaker 1: along with the funk sound of a frisa. Finally, it's 844 00:48:58,480 --> 00:49:05,400 Speaker 1: time for the headline. Right about here, ladies and gentlemen, 845 00:49:05,560 --> 00:49:09,040 Speaker 1: I want you to get yourself and your soul together. 846 00:49:09,760 --> 00:49:14,520 Speaker 1: This man will make your liver quiver. This man will 847 00:49:14,520 --> 00:49:20,600 Speaker 1: make your bladder splatter. This man will freeze your knees 848 00:49:21,520 --> 00:49:26,520 Speaker 1: if you will, let's all welcome Godfather a Soul. Soul 849 00:49:26,600 --> 00:49:34,320 Speaker 1: brother number one James Brown. James Brown outwalks James Brown 850 00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:38,160 Speaker 1: in a snug blue bodysuit and a long drape jacket, 851 00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:41,880 Speaker 1: But the jacket doesn't stay on long. James Brown yanks 852 00:49:41,880 --> 00:49:44,880 Speaker 1: it off to reveal the full glory of his outfit. 853 00:49:45,200 --> 00:49:48,160 Speaker 1: It has this deep scoop neck that goes down to 854 00:49:48,239 --> 00:49:53,920 Speaker 1: his navel, revealing bear black skin. Yet, somehow, on James Brown, 855 00:49:54,040 --> 00:49:58,800 Speaker 1: the tight fitting, low cut body suit seems hyper masculine. 856 00:49:59,080 --> 00:50:02,759 Speaker 1: Across his stomach, almost like a championship wrestling belt. Are 857 00:50:02,760 --> 00:50:08,279 Speaker 1: the letters GFOS for the Godfather a Soul. 858 00:50:08,760 --> 00:50:10,920 Speaker 9: This was his big comeback. 859 00:50:10,920 --> 00:50:13,000 Speaker 1: Comeback from what you might ask. 860 00:50:13,440 --> 00:50:17,239 Speaker 7: This is after he had backed Nixon, and before I 861 00:50:17,280 --> 00:50:20,399 Speaker 7: got there, they were actually doing bomb threats because now 862 00:50:20,400 --> 00:50:23,600 Speaker 7: he's a Republican and the Blacks were mostly Democrats and 863 00:50:23,640 --> 00:50:24,759 Speaker 7: they were not having it. 864 00:50:25,200 --> 00:50:29,920 Speaker 9: But it took the big payback to turn that all around. 865 00:50:30,880 --> 00:50:34,319 Speaker 1: James Brown did win back his listeners. They first gave 866 00:50:34,400 --> 00:50:38,280 Speaker 1: him for his foray into politics. Soon enough the crowds 867 00:50:38,320 --> 00:50:41,960 Speaker 1: were back at his shows because his music was too good. 868 00:50:42,400 --> 00:50:44,080 Speaker 1: Folks had to forgive them. 869 00:50:44,440 --> 00:50:46,560 Speaker 7: We would do a show that was not over till 870 00:50:46,600 --> 00:50:49,400 Speaker 7: eleven or twelve, and if it wasn't for the venues 871 00:50:49,520 --> 00:50:53,399 Speaker 7: finding him or calling the police, we would probably be. 872 00:50:53,440 --> 00:50:55,640 Speaker 9: Performing till two three o'clock in the morning. 873 00:50:56,080 --> 00:50:58,520 Speaker 7: So James Brown got on stage and he was like 874 00:50:58,800 --> 00:51:00,239 Speaker 7: the ever ready bunny. 875 00:51:00,400 --> 00:51:04,280 Speaker 1: He just performed over in Zaire. The show certainly didn't 876 00:51:04,440 --> 00:51:07,319 Speaker 1: end at two am. In fact, that's just when it 877 00:51:07,360 --> 00:51:08,000 Speaker 1: got started. 878 00:51:08,600 --> 00:51:10,560 Speaker 9: We went on at two am in the morning. 879 00:51:10,680 --> 00:51:14,120 Speaker 7: I remember that because we were waiting and waiting and waiting. 880 00:51:14,480 --> 00:51:16,920 Speaker 1: When James Brown steps out on stage and he grabs 881 00:51:16,960 --> 00:51:19,440 Speaker 1: hold of the mic, his band immediately goes into the 882 00:51:19,480 --> 00:51:23,320 Speaker 1: first number, the Big Payback, and the crowd goes wild. 883 00:51:23,800 --> 00:51:26,360 Speaker 1: James Brown lets the mic fall forward right as he 884 00:51:26,440 --> 00:51:30,000 Speaker 1: drops low into a split. Then he glides back up, 885 00:51:30,120 --> 00:51:33,120 Speaker 1: all muscle and right on time. The mic is there 886 00:51:33,160 --> 00:51:36,719 Speaker 1: to meet him. From those first notes, James Brown has 887 00:51:36,760 --> 00:51:40,960 Speaker 1: the crowd's full attention, and his backing band, the JBS, 888 00:51:41,120 --> 00:51:43,600 Speaker 1: has them up on their feet and dancing. 889 00:51:44,200 --> 00:51:49,080 Speaker 10: He's out there to give them the greatest performance they've 890 00:51:49,080 --> 00:51:54,680 Speaker 10: ever seen, to give them an experience, because that's where 891 00:51:54,719 --> 00:51:55,839 Speaker 10: he was most a lot. 892 00:51:56,560 --> 00:52:00,600 Speaker 1: Photographer Lynn Goldsmith captures the magic of this performance. Her 893 00:52:00,640 --> 00:52:04,520 Speaker 1: photos bring you right into the action of mister Dynamite's show. 894 00:52:05,000 --> 00:52:09,360 Speaker 1: Like there's this four panel montage she makes of James Brown. 895 00:52:09,640 --> 00:52:10,479 Speaker 2: Left to right. 896 00:52:10,600 --> 00:52:13,520 Speaker 1: He holds the mic, the master of the show. The 897 00:52:13,560 --> 00:52:16,799 Speaker 1: next panel he's leaned back, but a grin delights on 898 00:52:16,880 --> 00:52:20,719 Speaker 1: his lips. The next panel he's bent forward, convulsed by 899 00:52:20,760 --> 00:52:23,800 Speaker 1: the hit of the beat. And for the last panel, 900 00:52:24,200 --> 00:52:28,160 Speaker 1: he's back at the mic, his face caught mid shriek. 901 00:52:28,920 --> 00:52:32,799 Speaker 1: The James Brown experience in four photos, but still you 902 00:52:32,880 --> 00:52:33,879 Speaker 1: really had to be there. 903 00:52:34,480 --> 00:52:39,719 Speaker 10: It was always about him just being the best at 904 00:52:40,040 --> 00:52:41,480 Speaker 10: what he could do. 905 00:52:42,680 --> 00:52:45,759 Speaker 1: Those same sort of images come to breathing life in 906 00:52:45,800 --> 00:52:50,040 Speaker 1: the film Documentary's Soul Power in fact, the documentary gets 907 00:52:50,080 --> 00:52:54,000 Speaker 1: its name from the James Brown song which he plays next. 908 00:52:55,360 --> 00:52:59,040 Speaker 5: So James Brown played this amazing set. All the performances 909 00:52:59,080 --> 00:53:03,560 Speaker 5: are just so athletic, and the musicality is wonderful and 910 00:53:04,160 --> 00:53:06,960 Speaker 5: I just can't imagine how he can do it. Any 911 00:53:07,000 --> 00:53:10,239 Speaker 5: one of the songs could have been in the movie, 912 00:53:10,719 --> 00:53:13,800 Speaker 5: but of course I needed soul power because that's the cornerstone. 913 00:53:13,880 --> 00:53:17,400 Speaker 1: As the Zayrean crowd dances to that super tight James 914 00:53:17,440 --> 00:53:21,120 Speaker 1: Brown sound, Mister Dynamite and his backing band play a 915 00:53:21,160 --> 00:53:25,320 Speaker 1: few early hits. They run through the aching try Me, 916 00:53:26,520 --> 00:53:31,080 Speaker 1: and then switch gears for the upbeat cold Foot. Then 917 00:53:31,160 --> 00:53:34,520 Speaker 1: they get the funk all the way out with the Boss. 918 00:53:35,200 --> 00:53:38,440 Speaker 1: But it's when James Brown's band plays a ballad called 919 00:53:38,640 --> 00:53:42,719 Speaker 1: Zayre that's when he really wins the crowd's heart. They 920 00:53:42,760 --> 00:53:48,480 Speaker 1: go wild cheering when James Brown chants my booto, my booto, 921 00:53:49,040 --> 00:53:53,360 Speaker 1: my bootoo over a slow jam. It's punctuated by a 922 00:53:53,480 --> 00:53:59,080 Speaker 1: Macio Parker sax solo, and for his finale, James Brown 923 00:53:59,200 --> 00:54:03,160 Speaker 1: plays say it loud, I'm Black and I'm proud, and 924 00:54:03,280 --> 00:54:07,320 Speaker 1: he makes it a very special version as the JBS 925 00:54:07,440 --> 00:54:11,240 Speaker 1: keep that rhythm hitting and Lola Love dances her ass off. 926 00:54:11,600 --> 00:54:14,560 Speaker 1: James Brown drops down from the stage and he joins 927 00:54:14,600 --> 00:54:18,640 Speaker 1: the crowd. James Brown leads the Zyareans in a sing along. 928 00:54:19,239 --> 00:54:21,879 Speaker 1: Crowd members take turns singing into the mic. 929 00:54:22,480 --> 00:54:23,040 Speaker 2: I'm black and. 930 00:54:23,040 --> 00:54:25,680 Speaker 14: I'm proud, I'm blacking, I'm proud. 931 00:54:26,360 --> 00:54:30,000 Speaker 1: It's a poignant moment, one that energizes all those who 932 00:54:30,040 --> 00:54:30,479 Speaker 1: are there. 933 00:54:31,719 --> 00:54:34,080 Speaker 9: I wasn't tired when it was four o'clock in the morning. 934 00:54:34,120 --> 00:54:35,319 Speaker 9: I wanted to dance the war. 935 00:54:35,920 --> 00:54:39,680 Speaker 1: Then James Brown emerges from the crowd. He returns to 936 00:54:39,760 --> 00:54:43,760 Speaker 1: the stage where he pulls open his jumpsuit. It's soaked 937 00:54:43,800 --> 00:54:47,160 Speaker 1: with sweat. Bare chested now, he waves goodbye to the 938 00:54:47,200 --> 00:54:51,600 Speaker 1: crowd as the announcer shouts, James Brown, ladies and gentlemen, 939 00:54:51,680 --> 00:54:56,680 Speaker 1: the cod Father's Soul. James Brown, with that the Godfather Soul, 940 00:54:56,840 --> 00:55:01,200 Speaker 1: leaves the stage to Rocus applause and rising sun. 941 00:55:01,680 --> 00:55:04,000 Speaker 9: When we finished playing, it was daylight. 942 00:55:07,800 --> 00:55:12,160 Speaker 1: The crowd files out. The African Morning greets them. The 943 00:55:12,200 --> 00:55:17,000 Speaker 1: bands have done it. The festival directors can breathe a deep, 944 00:55:17,320 --> 00:55:21,279 Speaker 1: satisfying breath of relief. They all gave the people an 945 00:55:21,360 --> 00:55:26,680 Speaker 1: incredible show and reconnected cultures across the Atlantic. It's a 946 00:55:26,760 --> 00:55:31,600 Speaker 1: true homecoming of the soul. And now what comes next 947 00:55:32,239 --> 00:55:42,680 Speaker 1: is a rumble. Oh. On the next episode of Rumble, 948 00:55:43,040 --> 00:55:44,439 Speaker 1: the stage is set. 949 00:55:45,000 --> 00:55:48,560 Speaker 6: When I whooped this man, I want to be declared 950 00:55:48,800 --> 00:55:51,440 Speaker 6: by all as the greatest of all time. 951 00:55:51,800 --> 00:55:55,000 Speaker 8: Alli was not in favor. Alli wasn't anyone's goat at 952 00:55:55,040 --> 00:55:57,520 Speaker 8: that time. Holli was not thought of in the magnificent 953 00:55:57,640 --> 00:55:59,800 Speaker 8: way we think of him now. 954 00:56:00,120 --> 00:56:03,400 Speaker 15: At four o'clock in the morning on October thirty, nineteen 955 00:56:03,520 --> 00:56:04,480 Speaker 15: seventy four. 956 00:56:04,280 --> 00:56:06,480 Speaker 9: I awaited my fate in the locker room. 957 00:56:07,360 --> 00:56:09,759 Speaker 4: Chuck, now's your chance, show me what you got. 958 00:56:13,000 --> 00:56:16,359 Speaker 17: Rumbell is a production of School of Humans and iHeart Podcasts. 959 00:56:16,960 --> 00:56:19,600 Speaker 17: Rumbell is written and hosted by Zaren Burnett. The third 960 00:56:20,200 --> 00:56:23,839 Speaker 17: produced and directed by Julia Chriskell. Sound designed by Jesse 961 00:56:24,000 --> 00:56:28,600 Speaker 17: Niswanger and scoring by John Washington. Original music composed by 962 00:56:28,680 --> 00:56:33,120 Speaker 17: Jordan Manley and TJ. Merritt. Series concept by Gary Stromberg. 963 00:56:33,760 --> 00:56:41,600 Speaker 17: Executive producers are Jason English, Sean Titone, Gary Stromberg, Virginia Prescott, L. C. Crowley, 964 00:56:41,800 --> 00:56:45,360 Speaker 17: and Brandon barr Our. Senior producer is Amelia Brock, Production 965 00:56:45,480 --> 00:56:50,440 Speaker 17: manager Daisy Church Fact checker Savannah Hugley. Legal services provided 966 00:56:50,480 --> 00:56:55,360 Speaker 17: by Canoell Hanley PC. Additional production by Claire Keating Casting 967 00:56:55,400 --> 00:57:00,520 Speaker 17: director Julia Chriscau. Casting support services provided by Breakdown ex Press. 968 00:57:00,560 --> 00:57:05,760 Speaker 17: Episode eleven cast Wayne j as Wally Bean, John Washington 969 00:57:05,920 --> 00:57:09,799 Speaker 17: as news reporter, Julia Chriscau as news reporter. If you 970 00:57:09,920 --> 00:57:13,279 Speaker 17: like the show, let us know, like subscribe, leave five 971 00:57:13,320 --> 00:57:17,080 Speaker 17: star reviews. It really helps. Also check out our show 972 00:57:17,120 --> 00:57:21,880 Speaker 17: notes for a full list of reference materials.