Saving the Music of New Orleans

by Vanessa Loy (BPRW)

It would take an encyclopedia to list all the biographies of accomplished musical performers who were born or resided in New Orleans, Louisiana. The list would surely include Fats Domino, the Neville Brothers, the Marsalis family, Harry Connick, Jr., Mahalia Jackson, Earl King, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Allen Toussaint and Irvin Mayfield, Jr., among others. As New Orleans has produced so many artists, the city also played an important role in developing jazz, blues, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and zydeco music styles.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans two years ago, the city faced the threat of losing future generations of native musicians since many lost their homes. In December 2005, saxophonist Branford Marsalis and singer-pianist Harry Connick, Jr. teamed up with Habitat for Humanity and various corporate sponsors to save their city’s music. Together, they planned the development of the Musicians’ Village, a housing community designed to keep the city’s musical talent. Today, the Musicians’ Village is alive and thriving, with its own homepage at www.nolamusiciansvillage.org. The village consists of over 70 single-family homes in the city’s Upper 9th Ward, mostly inhabited by musicians.

The homes are financially sponsored by families and private businesses, and constructed with the help of Habitat for Humanity volunteers. The next project underway for the Musicians’ Village will be the Ellis Marsalis Music Center, named after Branford Marsalis’ father, himself a musician. Facilities will include a performance hall, a recording studio, classrooms and practice rooms. The center will nurture talent and facilitate interaction between musicians of all stripes by being open to residents and non-residents of the Musicians’ Village. Developers are also planning for a children’s park and a seniors’ community.

New Orleans’ music styles are so embraced throughout the world that the city and its people deserve an embrace back. The next generation of musicians is counting on it.