Aside from Makeba, few African musicians were internationally known in 1974.

These musicians illustrate the range of African-American music: from folk and soul to jazz and salsa. Also on the bill are such '70s stars as Bill Withers, The Spinners and The Crusaders, as well as the Fania All-Stars, featuring Afro-Cuban diva Celia Cruz. The headliners are inspired, the audiences exuberant and the sound crisp and full. Fortunately, that doesn't matter once the music starts. Viewers who come to the movie with no knowledge of the 1974 event may have trouble following the back story. There's barely enough of such material to construct a coherent narrative, however. Director Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, one of the editors of When We Were Kings, also shows preparations for the concert, and the promoters' travails. (Foreman had suffered a cut while training.) Ali stayed in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) during the interruption, and he offers most of the offstage commentary. Originally designed as a companion event to the Ali-Foreman showdown, the Kinshasa concert couldn't be rescheduled when the fight was postponed for six weeks. King, Miriam Makeba and others at a three-day musical showcase staged in advance of the championship bout. Then came a 13-year further delay before Soul Power, which documents the performances of James Brown, B.B. A movie about the fight, When We Were Kings, didn't arrive until 1996, after years of legal crossfire. But for the filmmakers and concert promoters involved in the 1974 project, it was no knockout. Sony Pictures Classics Muhammad Ali got what he wanted from the 'Rumble in the Jungle' in Zaire: a victory over rival George Foreman. Under African Skies: Orchestre Afrisa International lead singer Tabu Ley Rochereau is one of many African performers who shared roots and music with his American counterparts.

Soul Jazz Rumble In The Jungle Rar