Rebuilding the "Land of Dreams"
Expressive Culture and New Orleans' Authentic Future
Expressive Culture and New Orleans' Authentic Future
Nick Spitzer, University of New Orleans
Overview:
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Folklorist Nick Spitzer, host of
Public Radio International’s American
Routes, discusses the impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans
musicians and craftspeople and argues for their central role in
rebuilding the city. He considers a repertory of New Orleans music
filled with references to the city’s geography and past natural
disasters, illustrating how contemporary musicians revisit and revise
tradition.
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Presentation Sections:
Video:
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Part 1 (4:41 min.)
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If New Orleans is to be a monument
of living culture, local musicians and craftspeople and their cultural
impressions must be central to the city’s restoration, rehabilitation,
and rebirth. Commentary on major and minor versions of “Tipitina”
as performed by Allen Toussaint. |
| Part 2 (3:43 min.)
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The most prominent aspects of public culture
representing New Orleanians are found in the realms of work, particularly
the building arts, and play, especially music and celebratory occasions.
A discussion of “The Basin Street Blues.” |
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Part 3 (7:20 min.)
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Songs written by New Orleanians have often conveyed
the experiences of living in a flood plain. Discussion of “It's
Raining” and “Back Water Blues,” Bessie Smith
and Irma Thomas; and Snooks Eaglin’s version of “Down
by the Riverside.” (Eaglin image courtesy of Ed Newman.) |
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Part 4 (7:19 min.)
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The importance of the city's building arts to
New Orleans’ expressive culture. Featuring an interview with
Eddie Bo, as well as a musical excerpt from this sixth-generation
Creole mason, carpenter, and piano professor.
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Part 5 (5:31 min.)
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Musician and composer Allen Toussaint, in an interview with Spitzer, describes his post-Katrina experience as a balancing act of tragedy and kindness, saying, "there is no waterline on music." How Toussaint revised his well-known song, “Yes We Can Can.” |
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Part 6 (4:03 min.)
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With their colorful costumes and music, the
Mardi Gras Indians are among the first to return to the 2006 event,
leading many New Orleanians to feel hopeful about the city's future.
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Part 7 (9:17 min.)
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The Second
Line fuses performance and landscape as musicians, vendors and
participants move through the city. "What would an authentic
New Orleans future look like?" Excerpts from an interview with
Gregory Davis, of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. |
| Part 8 (3:06 min.)
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New Orleans' “collectively self-authored
culture,” moving between tradition and improvisation, will
be paramount to the conservation and creolization of the city’s
music and culture. Featuring an interview by Spitzer with Professor
Michael White, a musician and historian of jazz. |
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Question and Answer (5:16 min.)
An excerpt from Spitzer’s Q & A session
following his presentation "Rebuilding New Orleans Culture
and Community with Music" at the Society
for Ethnomusicology's annual conference in Atlanta in November
2005. |
About Nick Spitzer:
Nick
Spitzer, folklorist and anthropologist, is known for his work with
community-based cultures of the Gulf Coast, American vernacular music,
musicians, craftspeople, documentary media, and public cultural policy.
He is the creator and host of Public Radio International's weekly program,
American
Routes, based in New Orleans and heard on over two hundred and
twenty-five stations. Spitzer was founding director of the Louisiana Folklife
Program and senior folklife specialist at the Smithsonian Institution.
He has produced ethnographic films, radio documentaries and CDs on traditional
culture, and he is co-editor of the book Public Folklore (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992).
With the exception of the Q & A session, the video of Spitzer's lecture was made at Emory University on March 9, 2006 in a presentation sponsored by the American Studies Program. All contemporary images of New Orleans are used with permission from Nick Spitzer, unless otherwise noted. For information on historic images, see Recommended Resources. Documentary footage included in Part 4 of plasterer and Seventh Ward resident Earl Barthé creating a molding in his workshop is courtesy of Marjorie Hunt.
With the exception of the Q & A session, the video of Spitzer's lecture was made at Emory University on March 9, 2006 in a presentation sponsored by the American Studies Program. All contemporary images of New Orleans are used with permission from Nick Spitzer, unless otherwise noted. For information on historic images, see Recommended Resources. Documentary footage included in Part 4 of plasterer and Seventh Ward resident Earl Barthé creating a molding in his workshop is courtesy of Marjorie Hunt.
Presentation Sections:
