Fans of funky music are used to finding Jews behind the scenes. During the 1960s, Jerry Wexler produced hits for Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles. During the 1970s and ‘80s, David Geffen signed just about everybody. And in the 1990s, Rick Rubin locked the Red Hot Chilli Peppers in an abandoned Hollywood mansion and voila: Blood Sugar Sex Magik.
So I was delighted, though hardly surprised, to find that “Soul Power†— a new documentary about the 1974 Zaire music festival that accompanied Ali and Foreman’s “Rumble in the Jungle†– features a Jewish guy helping make it all happen.
Stewart Levine, the festival’s creator and head promoter, plays a major role in the film. When George Foreman cuts his eye, postponing the fight six weeks, Levine is making phone calls, assuring managers that the festival will go on as planned. When a plane full of music legends – Celia Cruz, James Brown, B.B. King – makes the 13-hour flight to Kinshasa, Levine is there, swigging beers and partying down.
The film, however, is mainly about the festival and Zaire ’74 is tough to top. “Soul Power†presents highlights of the 3-day affair in sublime detail: Bill Withers singing mournfully to a hushed crowd; Celia Cruz and her bandmates invading the stage with horns and maracas; The Spinners singing, dancing, and sweating in unison (those sequined velour suits were not designed with Zaire in mind). When James Brown takes the stage as the final act of Stewart Levine’s festival, it’s tough not to sing, “Say it loud, ‘I’m Jew and I’m proud!’†Wait, those aren’t the words…
