New Orleans - Helpful links related to its musicians and hurricane Katrina (updated December 2009):

WWOZ Music Aid (New Orleans' Jazz and Heritage Radio Station) A page with LOTS of links for musicians displaced by the hurricane and flooding and for people who want to make a donation to legit organizations.

Make It Right - Brad Pitt's project that calls for 150 affordable, environmentally sound houses in New Orleans' Ninth Ward over the next two years.

New Orleans Habitat For Humanity

Musicians Village - A Habitat For Humanity project lead by Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis!

Silence Is Violence

Neighborhood Story Project (check out Coming Out The Door For The Ninth Ward)

Levees.org

Save New Orleans/Louisiana Music - various links to resources for musicians.

Red Cross

9/4/2005

I lived in New Orleans for five years and met and married my wife there before relocating to New York. I actively participated in its musical culture and experienced many life- changing events - musical and otherwise - in that city. And after hurricane Katrina and the resulting flooding this week, my heart is broken.

The music of America has deep roots in the indigenous music of New Orleans - which includes jazz of course, but also includes several other hybrids that one just doesn't hear too often in other parts of our country. I think of the chants of the Black Indians, the grooves of The Meters and The Neville Brothers, the psychedelic funk of Dr. John, the variety of Cajun, Irish, and South American music you hear there…it's a deep, deep well. This music is studied, played, and perpetuated by citizens of New Orleans - many of whom exist below the radar of popular culture as well as the culture of composed music across the country. I personally know musicians who have lost or suffered severe damage to their homes. Jobs are and will be for the foreseeable future non-existent. The spirit to rebuild is there and it is being articulated by many of that city's natives (Wynton Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr. come to mind). But I fear the news in the next several weeks is going to be bad before it gets good. I'm also at a loss to console my friends who got out of the city. And I am at a loss as to what to do about those who are currently unaccounted for.

One thing I can do is let people who don't know what it was like to live in New Orleans and why the city's culture is such a vital part of our country. This is not to take away from the tragedy faced by those in Mississippi, Alabama, and on into Florida. I am speaking about my own feelings about a city I feel more strongly connected to than I ever did. This after spending five years composing and recording my CD Saints & Devils which combines performances by friends in New Orleans (Charlie Miller, James Hall, Louis Romanos) with friends here in New York City. My hope is that I can articulate what is best about that city for anyone who is curious when I am asked.

- Chris Becker

Return to home page...