Consequently, many of the most exciting performances during Jazz Fest actually take place on curbs, in front of local houses and in the roads just outside of the Fair Grounds. The massive raised stages at Jazz Fest create substantial physical separation between band and audience, however, and as a result much of the dynamic interaction between the two is lost. In second lines and other street performances, the boundaries between audience and performers become blurry when they are not altogether absent. Taking shape more than a century ago in the African-American street procession known as the “second line,” wherein dancing revelers form a second line behind the musicians, New Orleans brass bands thrive on interaction with the crowd. As the musicians chanted the song’s titular question, the crowd quickly joined in, and after a few moments the policeman backed off.Īlthough the performances inside the festival gates draw most of the press coverage, it is in the streets that the New Orleans brass band tradition finds its most becoming context. The song is effectively tailor-made for such confrontations, which are frequent in a city where musicians and legislators have fought over the right to perform in public spaces for well over a century. When the group ignored his order and the police officer angrily made a throat-slashing gesture, the band struck into “Who Dat Call Da Police?” a song originally recorded by local rapper Kilo in 1998 that was later adapted by the New Birth Brass Band and has emerged over the past decade as a brass band standard. As the crowd expanded into the road, a police officer approached and sharply signaled for the band to cease playing. I joined the growing crowd surrounding the band, whose cowbell-led second line rhythms inspired kinesthetic dancing from a couple of middle-aged locals and a youth of about 6 or 7. With some 100,000 people just then emerging from the gates of the Fair Grounds, it was a wise time to be playing on the street. There, in front of the headquarters of local radio station WBOK 1230 AM, the To Be Continued (TBC) Brass Band was playing for tips. In this state of jubilation, the group would then march back to the location of their reception.Ī symbol of life, a symbol of death and a symbol of re-birth, the New Orleans jazz funeral salutes a life well lived and the passage of a departed soul into a better world.As I left the Fair Grounds Race Course after my first day at the 2014 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, I heard the familiar sound of a brass band emanating from the corner of Fortin and Gentilly Street. The music and dancing were both a cathartic release for mourners and a celebration of a life well lived. The brass band would then launch into upbeat dance music with tambourines and drums. People on the streets where the march passed were welcome to join in and go along with the mourners to the cemetery. After the memorial service, the march would proceed to the cemetery and the tone would remain somber until the coffin had been placed in the ground or until the group was out of sight of the church. During the march, the coffin may have been carried by a horse-drawn hearse and was accompanied by a brass band playing somber dirges and hymns. A typical funeral began with a slow march from the home of the deceased to the church or designated memorial service site. Historically, the New Orleans jazz funeral could last up to a week and sometimes even included a parade. In American culture, this type of funeral caught on especially among the African- American population. The call-and-response style of music and chant, coupled with tambourines, drums and dancing were elements of African funeral ceremonies which crossed the seas with the captive slaves. The music and dancing of the jazz funeral were intended to both help the deceased find their way to heaven and to celebrate the final release from the hardship and bounds of earthly life. Although the upbeat music and dancing has, historically, flown in the face of prevailing sentiments about the required solemnity of the traditional memorial service, the New Orleans jazz funeral grew throughout the 20th century to achieve its own respected standing among the many ways to commemorate the passage of a loved one. The jazz funeral tradition grew to become New Orleans’ most honored of funeral ceremonies, with horse-drawn hearses and parades, well-known musicians and other pillars of the community.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |