Cha Wa appeared on Monday morning’s February 1 edition of ABC’s Good Morning America remotely from New Orleans, delivering a performance and sitting for an interview. Producers of the show stated that Cha Wa would be part of a series featuring New Orleans House Floats for Mardi Gras. The band filmed their segments in front of Flamingo House Nola, which drummer  Joe Gelini gave a special shout out.

“We played songs from our upcoming album My People which will be released on Single Lock Records April 2, 2021, as well as the eponymous new single of the same name. We filmed this @FlamingoHouseNola, because the Mardi Gras Indians associate with celebrating Jazz Fest (the house is literally on the Fairgrounds) more than we affiliate with the Mardi Gras Krewes who have stately mansions on St Charles Avenue!” stated the drummer.

The name of the band comes from a Mardi Gras Indian term. As Geraldine Wyckoff explained in her 2018 profile of the band,  “When a Mardi Gras Indian striding down a New Orleans street yells, ‘Cha wa!’ he’s warning nearby Mardi Gras Indian gangs, ‘We’re comin’ for ya!’ It stands as a signal of his tribe’s arrival on a block or in a community.” The singer of Cha Wa is Second Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr., the son of Monk Boudreaux and Second Chief of the Golden Eagles Mardi Gras Indians.

Watch the Cha Wa performance below.