There is a phrase that describes the center of the proverbial universe. The “axis mundi” is where all life sprang from; where the sacred and the profane meet; the point at which heaven touches earth. In the history of American music, the axis mundi must be the Crescent City….
This will be my first of many posts on the music of Louisiana and New Orleans because it’s too damn vast!! I mean c’mon!! Jazz, blues, cajun, zydeco, soul, hip-hop, mountain/ bluegrass, swamp rock, funk, jam, folk, singer-songwriter, and let’s not forget about brass bands and the Mardi Gras Indians! The culture and music of Louisiana deserves a blog of its own (and I’m sure there are many) but for now, I’m just going to try convey my utter awe of this musical mecca and talk about a few of my faves and then come back to it later.
I sometimes listen online to WWOZ which is one of the local community radio stations and it is the bomb…I love their “New Orleans Music Show” daily at 10 a.m. E.T. – I hear all kinds of local music from rock and alternative to funk, blues and soul. They also have great trad music shows highlighting the main folk music of Louisiana – Cajun and Zydeco as well as traditional jazz we all associate with The Big Easy (Louis Armstrong style). My favorite show is The Blues Breakdown with Valerie “The Problem Child” Kacprzak… She has introduced me to some really kick ass blues!
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