Hello there, welcome, and hello again. This week I came across several rather fabulous clips on Youtube from a 1973 concert called Wattstax. I didn't know much about it so I did a little research and it turns out, it was quite a big deal. The 1972 Watts Festival commemorated the 1965 Watts riots, seen by many as a turning point in the African-American civil rights struggle. The culmination of the festival was a concert, hosted by Stax Records, dubbed Wattstax. The concert has been likened to a 'Black Woodstock' and the line-up featured a veritable who's who of Stax recording artists at the time. A documentary of Wattstax was made and has recently been re-released on DVD with previously unseen footage. You can watch the trailer here. It looks like one for the netfix queue, if you ask me.
Here are two of my favourite clips:
The Staple Singers - Respect Yourself
With an intro from Jesse Jackson.
Rufus Thomas - the Breakdown
I highly recommend having a hunt around youtube for more if you likey.
-Mr. Ed
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