Weeks before Muhammad Ali faced George Foreman in Zaire, Hugh Masekela and producer Stewart Levine put on a music event as thrilling as the Rumble In The Jungle itself.
While the fight was captured in When We Were Kings, it’s taken until now for the Zaire ’74 festival to come to light. With many of the same protagonists and the kind of access impossible to recreate today, it’s an edifying glimpse at a moment in black history when the world really was looking on. This, plus amazing footage of Bill Withers’ working of Hope She’ll Be Happier to Ali sparring in the ring with a terrified member of The Spinners, makes Soul Power spark with life.