Indie Soul music documentary arrives for fundraiser in Chicago

undeniableflyer

For awhile now we’ve been updating SoulTrackers on the progress of the upcoming musical documentary film, Undeniable: The Story of the Independent Soul Music Movement? To director John C. Jointer and followers of the underground, it’s the talent of over 15 years of independent urban artists elbowing their way for a spot in the harsh industry of R&B and soul music. Names like N’Dambi, Bilal, Quadron, Eric Roberson, Anthony David, The Foreign Exchange, Jesse Boykins III,Raheem DeVaughn, and Yahzarah St. James, may seem familiar to urban music fans, but are not exactly mainstream names, despite several being Grammy-nominated and Billboard hitmakers.

With humor, verve, and journalistic seriousness, Jointer sets out to explore and chart the journey of what started this latest explosion of musical entrepreneurship and the collusion of political, financial, and cultural events in the late 90s and early 2000s that moved creators to become business people, even label owners to get their voices heard, garner worldwide fandom, and keep the soul traditions alive. Jointer chronicles the climb for the modern-day soulster, after radio and major labels turned toward pop, techno, and hip hop for hits. More than a local David and Goliath tale, Undeniable reveals a strivers’ phenomenon of international proportions, as artists’ collectively self-reliant attitudes parked mini-movements in urban regions initially just throughout the U.S. But, by the mid-2000s, the American experiment had eventually caught fire across oceans to the UK, Japan, France, Scandinavia, New Zealand—the world, where artists have since founded their own independent soul music movements, making the experience a global phenomenon, one whose past appeared hopeful, but whose sustainable future remains an open question. 

Coined everything from “indie soul” to the “Honest Music Movement,” Undeniable traces the history of Generation X and millennial artists, promoters, journalists, bloggers, and music lovers from the late 1990s through the halcyon days of the mid-2000s to the lawless rule of today’s crowded marketplace where the collective goal was—and still is—to develop, maintain, and grow a space in the global cultural landscape for this genre-resistant brand of “honest music.” In candid, digitally shot, live music showcases and in-person interviews with those present and those pressing the movement forward against impossible odds, Undeniable introduce a range of talented “newcomers” and their music to mainstream audiences.

Director John C. Jointer also uncovers former A-list R&B veterans, from Brian McKnight and Mint Condition to Lalah Hathaway and Rahsaan Patterson, who found a second life at their creative peaks through these new technologically-driven models after essentially being told they were too old or not the new major label prototype for the successful international pop star. Undeniable will juxtapose the plight of fresh young musicians who’ve never had a major label deal, with those unfortunate souls who were signed, shelved, and unreleased, as well as the big-named veterans represented by large independent labels like eOne, Malaco, Shanachie, and Stax/Concord, or at small indies like Dome, Stones Throw, Giant Steps, and Purpose Music Group after those artists’ mainstream “sell by” date was said to have passed. Their range of stories, bankrolled exposures, distribution opportunities, and points-of-entry complicating whom can authentically claim “independence” in a game where credibility and cultural cache with authenticity-starved fans is as elusive as it is key.

For all of you in the Chicago area, there is an upcoming fundraiser for the film in your town on March 25. Check out the details in the flyer above or click here!

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