Description

The future of New Orleans music shares a bold vision for the future with a reverence for the past. It builds upon tradition to bring something unique to the world. The future of New Orleans music is Cha Wa, a Mardi Gras Indian funk band that takes the music of the streets into the 21st century, with guests like Alvin Youngblood Hart and Anjelka Jelly Joseph.On My People , the band tries to take the influence of Monk and Bo and Willie Tee [from the original Wild Magnolias] back in the day, when they were interpreting the music of their time – the deep funk, disco, Afrobeat and tinges of reggae, says drummer & bandleader Joe Gelini. And we re also trying to interpret and write new music that we re inspired to play that s relevant to our generation, and our current social environment. My People feels like pure joy, a distillation of generations of New Orleans expression, but it also never fails to remind us how hard-won that joy was and still is: not least in the tense, funky and explosive title track, with it s declaration My people, we re still here. Mardi Gras Indian songs are inherently songs about freedom, Gelini says. And that struggle is as relevant today as it s ever been.

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