Above all, Soul to Soul is an electrifying concert film that features its players at the peak of their powers. Over 100,000 Ghanaians attended the celebration of the meeting of the cultures of the two continents. The Ike & Tina Turner Revue, featuring frontwoman Tina furiously shimmying alongside the Ikettes, delivers fiery renditions of “River Deep-Mountain High,” the project’s first digital single; “Soul to Soul,” a cut specifically written for this concert; and a cover of Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” [The latter track appears as a special Blu-ray outtake]. Wilson Pickett, the most popular American artist known to West Africans at the time, took the stage at 4:30 AM to deliver a rousing finale of “In the Midnight Hour,” “Funky Broadway,” and “Land of a 1000 Dances.” Gospel, soul, and R&B family group the Staple Singers were on hand to perform “When Will Be We Paid” and “Are You Sure” just five months before they recorded their legendary hits “I’ll Take You There” and “Respect Yourself.” Pianist Les McCann and tenor saxophonist Eddie Harris introduced many members of the audience to jazz via spirited performances of “The Price You Gotta Pay to Be Free” and “Hey Jorler,” the latter featuring local Ghanaian artist Amoah Azangeo. The Voices of East Harlem, an ensemble featuring young gospel singers, contributed “Run, Shaker Life.”
Santana, with guest percussionist Willie Bobo, was the wild card. The San Francisco group only had one African American member but, paradoxically, given its reliance on Afro-Cuban and other Latin American rhythm constructs, played the most African-sounding music (“Black Magic Woman”/”Gypsy Queen,” “Jungle Strut”) of any of the American guests. In Rob Bowman’s expanded liner notes for the Blu-ray, he quotes musicologist John Collins as stating, “They had a big impact on the local guitarists. The students were really fascinated by what Santana was doing with Latin music and rock… The obvious equation was, if you can unite Latin music with rock, you can do the same with African music. That’s actually what happened.”
Interspersed between these stunning performances, the camera crew followed the American musicians as they visited local villages, met kings, and shared food and dance with the Ghanaian community.
In his August 19, 1971, film review for The New York Times, critic Howard Thompson wrote: “Soul to Soul will hook you. We defy anybody to watch the final half hour of this color documentary of a soul and gospel music concert, performed in Ghana, without tapping a foot. But it is the sea of rapturous black faces, those of the visiting American artists and their Ghana audiences, that makes this movie a haunting experience… Mainly and compactly, the film sticks to the concert, brilliantly evoking the performances and crowd reactions in a flow of closeups and panoramic shots, to the stabbing, pounding pulse of the music.”
VARIOUS ARTISTS – Soul to Soul (Blu-ray: LIB- 2193 | DVD: LIB-2190)
BLU-RAY & DVD TRACKLIST:
Wilson Pickett – 1) “In the Midnight Hour,” 2) “Land of 1000 Dances” | Santana – 3) “Jungle Strut,” 4) “Black Magic Woman”/“Gypsy Queen” | Ike & Tina Turner – ) “River Deep-Mountain High,” 6) “Soul to Soul,” 7) “Ooh Poo Pah Doo,” 8) “I Smell Trouble” | The Staple Singers – 9) “When Will We Be Paid,” 10) “Are You Sure” | Les McCann & Eddie Harris – 11) ”The Price You Gotta Pay to Be Free,” 12) “Hey Jorler” (with Amoah Azangeo) | The Voices of East Harlem – 13) “Run, Shaker Life.”
Blu-Ray bonus features:
* 32-page booklet with expanded liner notes by Rob Bowman
* Outtake performance: Ike & Tina Turner – “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”
* Four separate commentary tracks:
1) Mavis Staples (The Staple Singers)
2) Les McCann with Kevin Griffin (The Voices of East Harlem)
3) Producer Tom Mosk with reissue producer David Peck of Reelin’ In The Years Productions
4) Ike Turner, Michael Shrieve (Santana), Obo Addy (Ghanaian drummer), Kevin Griffin and Les McCann.
VARIOUS ARTISTS – Soul to Soul: Music from the Original Soundtrack |
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