winning the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for his pride-swelling, eye-opening streaming darling Summer of Soul, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson revealed that he’s always at the ready to give fans their own healing music festival experience.
While speaking with ESSENCE in the press room just moments after receiving his trophy, the legendary DJ and music curator revealed that he already works to give the people a Summer of Soul of sorts every year with the annual Roots Picnic.
Thompson earlier told the press that he was inspired by the healing all the acts who performed at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival sought to come together to provide for that tumultuous time – fresh from a decade of Civil Unrest as our people fought for societal equality.
Noting a similarity to the tumultuous times we live in today – amid a pandemic, political and racial unrest within our borders and a war raging overseas – as one reason that audiences resonated with the music documentary so much.When asked what acts and in which location he would offer if he could recreate that feeling for healing in today’s society, he immediately began to grin.“You’re basically setting me up for a great alley-oop dunk right now.
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