SUMMER OF SOUL STAR LESTER CHAMBERS CONGRATULATES QUESTLOVE ON BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE OSCAR WIN
March 28, 2022 BY Jason Currell
Watch a message from Lester Chambers: https://www.instagram.com/p/CbofrJ3ASe4
“Hello there! I’m Lester Chambers again. We won! We won, and I’m having such great memories of you dancing in the park to the music. What a Summer of Soul.” – Lester Chambers
Psychedelic rock pioneer Lester Chambers congratulates Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson on his Best Documentary Feature Oscar win with Summer of Soul. The documentary film focuses on the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which took place outdoors in Harlem’s Mount Morris Park, the same summer as Woodstock. Over 300,000 people attended and the festival featured performances by artists including The Chambers Brothers, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, B.B. King, and many more.
Lester Chambers and The Chambers Brothers blazed through several soul stompers on the Harlem stage, and two of the songs were included in Summer of Soul. A stunning performance of their song “Uptown,” with the lyrics “Going uptown to Harlem,” opens the film and serves as the backbone of narration about Harlem’s rich cultural history and the political climate in America at the time. The Chambers Brothers’ 1969 track “Have a Little Faith” closes the film.
