美国国家公共电台 NPR New Orleans Tries Different Carnival Music

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

No one knows what it will look like or sound like or feel like. But on Tuesday, a new carnival¹ crew in New Orleans promises to be a spectacular debut². The Krewe Du Kanaval is a joint³ effort between Preservation⁴ Hall, the keepers of some of the city's most sacred jazz traditions, and members of the rock band Arcade⁵ Fire. They're planning a street parade, a concert, a jam session and a ball. Most importantly, they're encouraging fans to listen to a different kind of carnival music. Gwen Thompkins has more.

GWEN THOMPKINS, BYLINE⁶: When people talk about Creole New Orleans, Creole food, Creole patois⁷, Creole architecture, Creole culture, they often mean Haitian. That's because Haitian immigration at the beginning of the 19th century doubled the size of New Orleans and had a lasting⁸ effect on how the city still looks and eats and celebrates. That's what Regine Chassagne noticed right away. She's the daughter of Haitian immigrants born and raised in Montreal, Canada. Chassagne is one of the leaders of Arcade Fire and, in recent years, has kept a home here in New Orleans.

REGINA CHASSAGNE: For me, it's the Caribbean, Haitian and the French combo which is really fascinating to me because that's what I grew up with in Montreal. But it's almost like a different outcome of the similar ingredients. So that's why I find it so familiar and trippy. And I just love it.

THOMPKINS: For Chassagne and her bandmate husband Win Butler, New Orleans is a spiritual and aesthetic⁹ middle ground between Montreal and Haiti. In Arcade Fire, they ride all manner of cultural margins¹⁰ in ever-spectacular ways. And for Ben Jaffe, the creative mastermind of Preservation Hall, Arcade Fire helps New Orleans understand itself in a different way. Without a swab test or a sit-down with Henry Louis Gates or mailing hair samples to a dot-com, these musicians are exploring a shared history. And they're doing it as only musicians can - with their ears.

BEN JAFFE: I mean, especially after I went to Haiti - and, like, you can actually see the ways that New Orleans is connected to Haiti and with the way people act towards one another and the relationship people have to music, as it's not - you know, not that's something that's separate and apart from their life but something that's part of their DNA¹¹.

(SOUNDBITE OF BRASS¹² BAND)

THOMPKINS: And yet people here love their traditions. Every year, songs by Professor Longhair, Al Johnson, the brass bands and the Mardi Gras Indians dominate community radio. And the city can't get enough. Why? Because when you go to New Orleans, you want to go see the Mardi Gras.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GO TO THE MARDI GRAS")

PROFESSOR LONGHAIR: (Singing) When you see the Mardi Gras, somebody'll tell you what's carnival for.

THOMPKINS: The usual 34 parades are rolling this season in Orleans Parish. And people are also eating the same king cakes and masking with the same enthusiasm as they have for a long time.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GO TO THE MARDI GRAS")

PROFESSOR LONGHAIR: (Singing) And if you stare right there, I'm sure you'll see the Zulu queen.

THOMPKINS: But Preservation Hall and Arcade Fire have a history of finding traditional ways to address modern ambitions. Just after David Bowie died in 2016, they organized a parade in the French Quarter in his honor. Butler is still incredulous.

WIN BUTLER: People were in such mourning. You know, I mean, I was in such mourning. And we had no idea that 10,000 people were going to show up. It was crazy. I've definitely never played for 10,000 people with no PA before. It was definitely a feat¹³.

(SOUNDBITE OF DAVID BOWIE TRIBUTE PARADE)

THOMPKINS: Traditionally, the Tuesday before Mardi Gras has been a dull day in New Orleans. But the Krewe Du Kanaval will feature an assortment¹⁴ of musicians from Haiti, Preservation Hall, Arcade Fire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire and other Francophone stops at a free concert at Congo Square. Then they'll walk to a French Quarter club, where crew members will hold their first ball.

Damas Louis is a Haitian master drummer who's also known as Fanfan. He can't wait.

DAMAS LOUIS: For me, it's like a dream come true because that's been, like, six years. And New Orleans - every time I see the parade, I say, how come we don't have Haitian in that?

THOMPKINS: Louis is in the final stages of planning a rara, a traditional and sometimes mystical celebration of life and death that predates the New Orleans second line. Proceeds from Krewe memberships will go toward the nonprofit Preservation Hall Foundation and KANPE, a nonprofit organization founded by Regine Chassagne that helps women and families in one of the poorest communities of Haiti's Central Plateau region. In Haitian Creole, kanpe means stand up. And families there find local solutions to accessing medical care, education for their children and microfinancing for agricultural work.

CHASSAGNE: That's where the investment is worth it because you can buy a thing. And the thing is just a thing. Even a building is just a building. But the building won't do anything. It'll just sit there. But if you invest in the people, the people will make something out of it.

THOMPKINS: Of course, every carnival crew has its own royal court. Singer Irma Thomas will be queen. And who knows? There may be a moment of deja vu in store for Maryse Dejean (ph) on Tuesday night. She left Haiti with her parents at the age of four. But she never forgot Kanaval.

MARYSE DEJEAN: I remember the music and the rustle¹⁵ of gowns. And I especially remember, too, seeing one of the carnival queens blowing kisses from a float. And then I thought, oh, I'm going to blow a kiss, too. And I did. And she returned the kiss (laughter). It's amazing what we remember.

THOMPKINS: Maybe New Orleans has room for a new carnival tradition after all. I'm Gwen Thompkins.

(SOUNDBITE OF ALLEN TOUSSAINT'S "MARDI GRAS IN NEW ORLEANS")

1 carnival   

n.嘉年华会，狂欢，狂欢节，巡回表演

参考例句：

• I got some good shots of the carnival.我有几个狂欢节的精彩镜头。
• Our street puts on a carnival every year.我们街的居民每年举行一次嘉年华会。

2 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

3 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

4 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。

5 arcade   

n.拱廊；(一侧或两侧有商店的)通道

参考例句：

• At this time of the morning,the arcade was almost empty.在早晨的这个时候，拱廊街上几乎空无一人。
• In our shopping arcade,you can find different kinds of souvenir.在我们的拱廊市场，你可以发现许多的纪念品。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 patois   

n.方言；混合语

参考例句：

• In France patois was spoken in rural,less developed regions.在法国，欠发达的农村地区说方言。
• A substantial proportion of the population speak a French-based patois.人口中有一大部分说以法语为基础的混合语。

8 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

9 aesthetic   

adj.美学的，审美的，有美感

参考例句：

• My aesthetic standards are quite different from his.我的审美标准与他的大不相同。
• The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory.那位教授提出了新的美学理论。

10 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

11 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

12 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

13 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。

14 assortment   

n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集

参考例句：

• This shop has a good assortment of goods to choose from.该店各色货物俱全，任君选择。
• She was wearing an odd assortment of clothes.她穿着奇装异服。

15 rustle   

v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声

参考例句：

• She heard a rustle in the bushes.她听到灌木丛中一阵沙沙声。
• He heard a rustle of leaves in the breeze.他听到树叶在微风中发出的沙沙声。