Zaire '74: The Night James Brown Owned Kinshasa
From September 22 to 24, 1974, the festival Zaire '74 took place in Kinshasa, capital of what was then Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). It was originally conceived as a lead-in event to Muhammad Ali's fight against George Foreman, known as the "Rumble in the Jungle." When the bout was postponed, the festival went ahead anyway, drawing an estimated 80,000 people over three days. Of more than 30 acts on the bill, 17 were from Zaire and 14 from abroad — but the weekend belonged to James Brown. According to a roundup by Far Out Magazine, the performance was later preserved in the 2008 documentary Soul Power.
From fight undercard to standalone festival
Zaire '74 was conceived by South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela and producer Stewart Levine, who had studied together and wanted to introduce African music to American audiences. Levine described the project as a kind of "consciousness-expanding device," meant to build interest in Africa and in the connections between Africa and the United States.
To ride the international attention around the fight, the festival was scheduled for September 22–24, with Ali and Foreman originally set to fight on September 25. Days before the bout, Foreman suffered a cut above his right eye requiring 11 stitches, forcing a postponement of more than a month. The festival lost the event it had been built around overnight, and international visitors began canceling their travel plans. Levine chose to proceed regardless, letting the festival stand on its own. Then-president of Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko, also used the event to project an image of the country to the world.
James Brown and the JB's, deep in the night
The lineup included BB King and Bill Withers, among others. Brown arrived with the JB's, featuring Bootsy Collins, Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker, during what's considered his most uncompromising funk period.
The atmosphere inside the venue grew so intense that Mobutu made a last-minute decision to open the stadium to the public, letting more people in to watch. Levine later recalled it as a "magical setting" — the set ran in the early hours, around two or three in the morning, and the crowd's energy added another dimension to the music. Brown closed with "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud Part 1."
Soul Power and how it's remembered
At the end of the documentary Soul Power, Brown looks directly into the camera and tells the audience, "I am somebody." Levine, however, later called the festival an outright failure, saying "almost nobody saw it" and that it failed to achieve its original goal of bringing African music to American audiences. The "Rumble in the Jungle" went on to become one of boxing's defining moments, while Zaire '74 survives mainly through footage — a separate strand of the same story.