The Jazz Fest 2015 cubes were released at the Fair Grounds today to the chants and drumbeats of Mardi Gras Indians as a group of Big Chiefs from across the city led an emotional musical tribute to the recently-passed Big Chief Bo Dollis of the Wild Magnolias.
Photo by Stephen Maloney
New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival founding producer Quint Davis said the festival this year will honor the Mardi Gras Indians with greater emphasis than ever before, in recognition of the fact that their culture is unique and a significant part of what makes New Orleans a city like no other.
“When we talk about the ‘Jazz and Heritage Festival’ instead of the ‘Jazz Festival’, this is what we mean,” Davis said.
“We are honoring a great tradition and a culture that helps stand us up, keeps us resilient as a people,” Mayor Mitch Landrieu said. “That’s the Mardi Gras Indians.”
Photo by Stephen Maloney
City Councilmember Susan Guidry asked, “Where else do we have a tradition that celebrates a mix of cultures the way we have it in the Mardi Gras Indians?”
Big Chief Romeo Bourger, of the 9th Ward Hunters, conveyed this spirit of cultural exchange in the beadwork of his suit, which took him all year to sew and displays scenes of Native Americans aiding slaves.
‘The legendary Dollis will be honored in particular, with his image on the Frenchy-painted Jazz Fest 2015 Poster titled “Portrait of An Enduring Legacy.”
Initially veiled in coverings made from this year’s Jazz Fest cloth print (a brilliant blue print decorated with streetcars and with buttons made of real tokens), the poster featuring Dollis was revealed this morning.
“It’s very appropriate that he would now be the face of Jazz Fest to go all over the world,” said Davis, who produced Dollis’ recording of “Handa Wanda” with the Wild Magnolias in 1970, the first commercial recording ever made by Mardi Gras Indians.
“It was Bo Dollis that was face of the Mardi Gras Indian culture, with the Wild Magnolias recording and touring, that first really brought the Mardi Gras Indian to the world,” Davis said.
The first day of Jazz Fest has officially been named Bo Dollis Day.
Photo by Stephen Maloney
Dollis’ widow, Big Queen Laurita Dollis, took the stage to thank the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic (and the Jazz and Heritage Festival Foundation for their contributions to it), and delivered a moving speech.
She remained poised and strong even through tears as she spoke of her late husband.
“He is here with us,” she said. “He was there with us Super Sunday, St. Joseph’s, Mardi Gras, he’s with us daily. And for who knew him well, he always kept a smile. You’d never see him with a frown. I could be home fussin’, he would still be smiling.”
Her son Bo Dollis, Jr., who took the floor after her to cries of “Big Chief!”added “He didn’t mask for himself, he didn’t mask just to spend the money on it. He masked for everybody else out there.”
In spite of the immense grief, the family was out on the streets on Mardi Gras Day to uphold their Dollis, Sr.’s spirit and the traditions he loved, Bo Jr. said.
Photo by Stephen Maloney
In addition to Dollis and the Indians, Jazz Fest 2015 celebrates the 40th anniversary of the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA), a pre-professional arts education center for secondary school aged children. The festival will feature feature performances by students and alumni.
Davis also announced that the festival has renewed its contract with the Fairgrounds for another five years, keeping Jazz Fest in place until 2020.
He was emphatic that, even though Jazz Fest books big name acts like Pitbull and Lady Gaga, the performers leading up to them are New Orleans’ homegrown heroes: Ivan Neville, Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas, Rebirth Brass Band, Big Freedia, and all of our other beloved musicians.
“It’s still just as amazing… that there’s this much talent here in New Orleans,” Davis said. “There’s no other city in the world not only that has that much talent, but there’s no other festival in the world that is structured that way, that it has the music of its own all day, every day.”
As Landrieu put it: “There’s really nothing better, bigger, richer, deeper, more beautiful that represents the authenticity of the people of New Orleans and who we are, where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going than the Jazz Fest.”
“When we die and go to heaven, it’s gonna be Jazz Fest everyday,” Guidry said.
To close the conference, the Big Chiefs took the stage once again, and the afternoon wrapped up with claps and chants of “Big Chief Bo with a golden crown!”
