Wattstax 1972 « PITHOS 2k

Di. 24. Jun 2008...9:05

Wattstax 1972

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Wattstax 1972

Wattstax war ein Musikfestival, das am 20. August 1972 im Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum stattfand.

Das Festival wurde vom Musikunternehmen Stax Records veranstaltet, um der Unruhen im Stadtteil Watts sieben Jahre zuvor zu gedenken. Der Name ist eine Anspielung auf dasWoodstock-Festival. Wattstax, das neben den Konzerten der Stars von Stax Records auch Reden unter anderem des Bürgerrechtlers Jesse Jackson enthielt, zog über 100.000 größtenteils afroamerikanische Zuschauer an. Es wurden mehrere Alben mit der Musik des Festivals sowie ein Film veröffentlicht. Die Filmdokumentation erhielt 1974 eine Nominierung für den Golden Globe als bester Dokumentarfilm.

Wattstax 1972

Wattstax is a 1973 documentary film by Mel Stuart that focused on the 1972 Wattstax music festival and the African American community of Watts in Los Angeles, California. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Documentary Film in 1974.

100,000 brothers and sisters turning on to being black…telling it like it is!

The Concert:

The concert was held at the Los Angeles Coliseum on August 20, 1972 and organized by Memphis’s Stax Records to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the Watts riots. Wattstax was seen by some as “the Afro-American answer to Woodstock”. In order to enable as many members of the black community in L.A. as possible, tickets were sold for only $1.00 each. The Reverend Jesse Jackson gave the invocation, which included his “I Am – Somebody” poem, which was recited in a call and response with the assembled stadium crowd. Interspersed between songs are interviews with Richard Pryor, Ted Lange and others who discuss the black experience in America.

Find both previous articles articles on WIKIPEDIA

Rufus Thomas @ Wattstax 1972

Still, “Wattstax” didn’t garner wide media attention. And the film — considered too racy, too political and too black — failed to get the wide theatrical release that the documentary “Woodstock” received three years earlier, despite a notable showing at the Cannes Film Festival and a Golden Globe nomination.

“The problem that existed then, and to a certain extent now,” said Bell, “is that Hollywood didn’t really see where something like this was going to generate revenue, or that is was even important.”

… read all of the 2008 Associated-Press AP Article on Wattstax here

Wattstax 1972