Festival season is in full swing, what with the upstart Buku taking over Mardi Gras World on Friday and Saturday and the Jazz Fest’s annual festival inspired by the music of the African diaspora on the edge of the French Quarter on Saturday and Sunday.
The festival is part of the many ways that the fine folks at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation (the non-profit that owns the Jazz Fest) give back to the local community. It’s free and open to the public and starts at 11 AM.
Saturday’s music spans the breadth of the diaspora with Boukman Eksperyans (pictured beloe) from Haiti and Punjabi-inspired brass band Red Baraat on the top of the list for this listener.
Also expect to hear a Cuban son band, Los Caballeros del Son, that is getting a lot of buzz lately, and a kora player named Kokanto Sata from Mali.
Sunday, the music stays closer to home with hip-hop from Mannie Fresh and others as well as brass from the Hot 8 Brass Band. For the full schedule click the link.
One of the most interesting things that I witnessed last year and will be repeated again this year is a Mardi Gras Indian battle. Less than a week after St. Joseph’s Night, two tribes will face off in the traditional competition of who sings the best and is the prettiest.
This spectacle, especially given the Jazz Fest’s history of Mardi Gras Indian parades, could come off as a tourist gimmick, but the tribes who participated last year were really into it. It was as authentic as anything you could see on the streets.
TOP PHOTO: ROY GUSTE
