Life without music
14th June 2017 · 0 Comments
By Edmund W. Lewis
The Louisiana Weekly Editor
It’s Black Music Month, y’all, and I couldn’t be happier.
It’s like Christmas without the shameless materialism, seasonal affected depression (S.A.D.), the big letdown when things don’t always go as planned and the dizzying pressure to find the perfect gift for that special someone.
Black Music Month is the perfect celebration that takes place during what can arguably be called the perfect month despite signaling the start of the Atlantic hurricane season.
June is a time for weddings, family reunions, family vacations, Juneteenth celebrations. picnics, fishing trips, outdoor parties, lemonade sessions on the porch and long morning and evening walks.
All of these activities blend perfectly with music, which has the power to make good times great and great times unforgettable.
Even power outages and hurricane evacuations go well with music.
One of the things I try to do in preparing for the summer outages that come with major thunderstorms is keep a CD player and lots of batteries at my fingertips. Along with a pocket radio to keep abreast of important information, battery-operated candles to illuminate the house without adding heat to already-sweltering summer temperatures and battery-operated fans to replicate a breeze until the power is restored, the music gets you through those tense moments and makes it easier to relax and wait patiently for the lights to come back on. During a number of hurricane evacuations, I can recall slipping one of my kinfolks a couple of CDs with everything from Gospel music to smooth jazz and old-school R&B and having everyone in the car singing at the top of their lungs.
After a number of evacuations, it got to the point that some of my kinfolks wouldn’t let me leave the house without making sure I had some music in my bag and would start hinting months before hurricane season about what kind of music I should include on the next set of hurricane mixtapes.
As I reflect on the many mixtapes I have made over the years for every occasion from weddings, to reunions, holiday gatherings, birthday celebrations and tailgate parties, I can’t even imagine how life would be without the music that has come to define me and the times I grew up in. That would be like trying to enjoy red beans and rice without pickled meat and bay leaves or beignets without powdered sugar.
It ain’t happenin’.
Yeah, I know: Only in New Orleans.
It is only fitting that in New Orleans, the most African city in America and the birthplace of jazz, that music is savored, celebrated and revered as the amazing gift it is.
In its purest and most authentic form, music is to life what cayenne pepper is to south Louisiana cooking and what the sassafras plant is to filé gumbo.
Music has transformative and restorative powers and the ability to lift us to a higher level of consciousness much like meditation, prayer and fasting. When used properly and with vision and purpose, it can aid us in communing with a higher power and build bridges between people and cultures.
Medical studies have shown that it can also physically aid in our healing when used by health professionals. It has been found that listening to music can have the same physiological effect on some patients as taking herbs, medicines or eating certain foods. It can help us to keep our minds sharp by triggering distant memories connected to certain songs or musical experiences.
Some songs, like those recorded and performed by R&B groups like DeBarge, The Commodores, LTD and Earth, Wind & Fire, instantly bring to mind for me cherished memories of spending the holidays with loved ones with everyone in the house belting out songs like “i Like It,” “Just to Be Close To You” or “Concentrate On You.” Other songs from the 1980s bring to mind simpler times like nights spent as a teenager bike riding, recording songs next to the radio from “Mellow Moods” shows or hanging out on the lake.
It only takes a few chords from these songs to bring all the memories rushing back, giving me reason to smile and often laugh.
New Orleans is a magical city, and a large part of that magic is the direct result of African-inspired music, whether you’re talking about Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, Mahalia Jackson, James Andrews, Fats Domino, Lillian Boutte, Germaine Bazzle, the Soul Rebels or Rebirth Brass Band, the city offers something for every musical palette. There is no other city in the world that can boast of having a richer, more varied or vast reservoir of musical ingenuity and talent than the Crescent City, bar one.
We should find a way to thank and acknowledge the many New Orleans who maintain the high standard of musical excellence that has characterized this city and its people since it was founded nearly three centuries. Let them know how much you love and appreciate them the next time you see them in concert or run into them at your favorite snowball stand or “making groceries” in your neighborhood.
Expand your musical tastes and discover the many New Orleans artists who have yet to receive the acclaim, respect and compensation they richly deserve. Buy their music, support their performances. Tell them how much their music has impacted you. Learn their history and pass it on to others who may not know as much about them as you do but appreciate good music.
Among the brilliant young artists who hail from the City That Care Forgot are P.J., Morton, the son of Bishop Paul S. Morton and Elder Debra Morton, who made a name for himself in Atlanta, Georgia before returning to his hometown to start a record label and continue to hone his skills as a vocalist; Gregory Porter, a velvety-smooth jazz vocalist whose voice has already earned him international acclaim; and vocalist extraordinaire who was born in the Crescent City, raised in Oakland, California and can effortlessly sing music from virtually any genre.
Check them out for yourself and show them some love.
All three bring hope of better times and brighter days not only for recording artists in New Orleans but for everyone who calls this great city home.
Happy Black Music Month!
This article originally published in the June 12, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
