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Music Served New Orleans Style
"Oakland’s music history doesn’t date that far back, but with jazz being so big in the Fillmore, you’d think there’d be more music schools and music programs like
NOCCA in the Bay Area."
By Brandon McFarland
Youth Radio's Brandon McFarland surveys the New Orlean's music scene as he tours through NOCCA, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, and meets many inspiring young music professionals who study traditional sounds from the Gulf Coast - like jazz blues, Zydeko, and Cajun. Brandon also gets a special introduction to music through Youth Radio's Bookkeeper and New Orleans-native, Al Lazard..
Anywhere I go that’s a different culture, I look for the music wherever I can find it. And that was the void in this trip to New Orleans that just got filled in the last two days: The music! At NOCCA, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, I was impressed by the level of talent of high school students in one building. They had such a love and passion for the history of New Orleans musicians, which was tight.
Oakland’s music history doesn’t date that far back, but with jazz being so big in the Fillmore, you’d think there’d be more music schools and music programs like
NOCCA in the Bay Area. At NOCCA, I helped with a recording session, and I got a chance to play with a couple of students, as well as with Youth Radio’s Bookkeeper Al Lazard. He’s also a jazz musician deeply rooted in New Orleans.
I finally got a taste of New Orleans famous “second line” last night when I went to the Maple Leaf Bar to hear the Rebirth Brass Band. All I knew about the band was what Al told me, which was that I was about to see something that only happens in New Orleans. They ripped it! They had an energy I never seen before.
It just makes you want to dance. It’s old music, but even for a person who’s more into E-40 than Tuba Fats, I was surprised at how I connected to it. My body just started moving, my hands just started clapping, and I started doing a New Orleans dance. Now, I’m going to dance myself into bed.
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