We Want the Funk: Documentary Film Screening at Essex Library

We “got the feeling” at Essex Library! Join us as we collaborate with Connecticut Public to offer the Indie-Lens Pop-Up “We Want the Funk,” a documentary film from Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson, on Thursday, March 20 at 5:30 PM in the Buel Room. In follow-up to the film, a live funk drumming performance by Gary Ribchinsky, the founder of the band Long Island Sound, will take place on March 29 at 1:00 PM at Essex Library. Ribchinsky will also provide a lecture on the basic characteristics of funk music, artists and songs.

This program is FREE and open to the public at 33 West Avenue, Essex, CT. Register at youressexlibrary.org or by calling the Library at 860-767-1560.

About the Film

WE WANT THE FUNK! is a syncopated voyage through the history of funk music, spanning from African, soul, and early jazz roots, to its rise into the public consciousness. Featuring James Brown’s dynamism, the extraterrestrial funk of George Clinton’s Parliament Funkadelic, transformed girl group Labelle, and Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat, the story also traces funk’s influences on both new wave and hip-hop.