MANTRA MUSIC
Thanks a lot for the positive review of our new album Devaloka (Sean Johnson & The Wild Lotus Band, Nutone Music) in the October issue. We’re grateful to be included. One correction to share is that we didn’t intend for the album to be a soundtrack for practicing yoga exercises, though it can certainly be used that way. The genre of music we play, called kirtan, is itself a form of musical yoga, a mantra-based chant music with its roots in India. We are proud to represent New Orleans and excited to be among a small group of western artists experimenting with and interpreting this music in fresh ways that appeal to yogis and beyond. In fact our label, Nettwerk/Nutone Records, home of Sarah McLachlan and Barenaked Ladies, was intentionally formed with the goal of sharing mantra music with a wider audience than the yoga community. We’ve been invited to play at the 2010 Jazz Fest and look forward to sharing our music with a larger hometown crowd. Thanks again for the review and the opportunity to clarify.
—Sean Johnson, New Orleans, LA
POTLUCK REACTIONS
The random grab from what Carl now calls, “Peabody and Sherman go to New Orleans,” has been a blast. We can’t believe how much fun we are having. Clips like, “Tito Puente at House of Blues” and Joe Cabral with Bruce Springsteen in the Maple Leaf Bar. Wow. The really cool 25-year French Quarter Festival Program is to die for, and it came with a Preservation Hall classics CD. Thank you so very much for all of your selections, and I highly recommend your offer in the small or large size. Worth every penny. We still have half the box to play with. It’s like Christmas!
—Carl and Barb Hoberg, Elkhorn, WI
ARS LONGA
As Clint Eastwood said in Unforgiven, “We all have it coming.” Or there’s the old saying, Ars longa, vita brevis, “Art is long, life is short.” Every note that has fl own out of this city is in the air forever, even wafting into space. We also have the modernday benefi t of recording sound and hearing it again and again. More than any other city in the so-called “modern world,” culture of all sorts passes on, through families and fans. Whenever outsiders ask me how long it will take New Orleans to “come back” I usually say, “However long it takes.” But the city is always evolving and it will never be the way it was pre-Katrina anymore than it was in 1925 or 1825. Language changes, music changes, cultures change. We’re all in a process of becoming.
Some last words from Ben Franklin’s own epitaph:
B. Franklin, printer (like the cover of an old book its contents torn out And stript of its lettering and gilding) lies here, food for worms. But the work shall not be lost; for it will (as he believ’d) appear once more in a new and more elegant edition revised and corrected. By the author.
—Bill Bowman, New Orleans, LA
DEUTSCHES JAZZ FEST
I’ve been infected for 50 years with the culture from my second home of New Orleans. Over 25 years ago, I was culture manager of my home town Gronau and responsible for a small jazz fest. In April 2010, I will retire. On this occasion, Gronau’s main focus will be New Orleans. Lillian Boutté will be there, a Gospel group from New Orleans, the graphic artist Matt Rinard, one cinema night and perhaps Father LeDoux. I would like to introduce OffBeat to the shops of the city Gronau. I myself have a large collection of the OffBeat. I would like to give the special history of the music magazine OffBeat. The Gronau / New Orleans jazz fest is from April 27 until May 2, 2010.
Directly after Katrina I built a support organization to fund the New Orleans Musicians Clinic. Our organization has given money and will give again to the New Orleans Musicians Clinic on May 2, 2010. You can find my support activities at gronauprojekte.de.
—Elmar Hoff, Gronau, Germany
