Amy Hurt
I conducted my field study in the city of New Orleans for two months, 24 April -25 June 2008. During this time I lived in a small house in Mid-City, an apartment in Jefferson Parish, a hotel room on Decatur Street in the French Quarter, and a rent-by-the-day room just outside of the French Quarter on Pauger Street.
While in New Orleans, I had the opportunity to attend three festivals. I arrived just in time for the two-weekend, seven-day internationally-known Jazz and Heritage Festival when I first arrived. And then in the middle of my stay, I attended a local music, art, and food festival–the Mid-City Bayou Boogaloo. At this particular festival, I was a witness to a wedding which was performed on stage in between performing bands. Towards the end of my time in New Orleans, I was pleased to attend a three-day festival in the French Market area which encompassed three festivals into one–Vieux-to-do: the Tomato Festival, the Zydeco Music Festival, and the French Market Festival.
For my field study I frequented music bars, venues, and outdoor concerts where music was being performed. I was able to get in contact with various people: a 19-year old college student and musician, a Louisiana folklorist and DJ, two music professors at two different universities who began their careers as musicians, a female jazz harmony vocalist, a youth brass band and its manager, a blues harmonica performer who also sells CDs at the French market, a delta funk band, a Cajun male who lives south of New Orleans, and various locals, long-term residents, college students, and tourists. From my conversations, observations, and informal recorded interviews, I was able to gather a diverse amount of information on the music and general feel of New Orleans.
My original question was to see what role music was playing in the rebuilding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina on August 29th, 2005. Over the course of my stay in New Orleans, I learned that while I was studying music, I could not separate music from the individuals of the area, and from the area itself. New Orleans and music are to be studied as one with the community. The music in New Orleans is not just a side ingredient that is lightly dashed onto a plate, but rather the main ingredient which holds the gumbo that is New Orleans in place. Music is what makes New Orleans function. Without music and a place to participate, either through performance or dancing along with the music, many individuals will not have a home away from home, or perhaps even a place to call home. Through these music bars, individuals are able to bond to those around them and feel a part of something greater than them.
The city is still suffering from Hurricane Katrina’s thrashing on the 29th of August 2005 greatly damaged the city. While plans for revitalizing the infrastructure of New Orleans need to be addressed, the distinct culture of the city ought to be on the forefront of city leaders’ minds. As folklorist Nick Spitzer argues, people do not come to be awed by the city’s interesting infrastructure, but rather to enjoy its many pleasures—food, alcohol, women and music—all playing an interlocking role with one another. The immediate return of musicians, and therefore entire music communities, is essential to entice citizens, both long-term and native residents, back to New Orleans and restore the city’s physical infrastructure. It is the social structure created in its music bars, creating a feeling of home and security, which will lead the way in returning New Orleaneans to their home in the Big Easy.
My findings from my research will be written up in my senior thesis.