Nick Spitzer, Rebuilding the "Land of Dreams"

Folklorist Nick Spitzer, host of Public Radio International’s American Routes, discusses the impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans musicians and craftspeople and argues for their central role in rebuilding the city. He considers a repertory of New Orleans music filled with references to the city’s geography and past natural disasters, illustrating how contemporary musicians revisit and revise tradition.

If New Orleans is to be a monument of living culture, local musicians and craftspeople and their cultural impressions must be central to the city’s restoration, rehabilitation, and rebirth. Commentary on major and minor versions of “Tipitina” as performed by Allen Toussaint.

The most prominent aspects of public culture representing New Orleanians are found in the realms of work, particularly the building arts, and play, especially music and celebratory occasions. A discussion of “The Basin Street Blues.”

Songs written by New Orleanians have often conveyed the experiences of living in a flood plain. Discussion of “It's Raining” and “Back Water Blues,” Bessie Smith and Irma Thomas; and Snooks Eaglin’s version of “Down by the Riverside.” (Eaglin image courtesy of Ed Newman.)

The importance of the city's building arts to New Orleans’ expressive culture. Featuring an interview with Eddie Bo, as well as a musical excerpt from this sixth-generation Creole mason, carpenter, and piano professor.

Musician and composer Allen Toussaint, in an interview with Spitzer, describes his post-Katrina experience as a balancing act of tragedy and kindness, saying, "there is no waterline on music." How Toussaint revised his well-known song, “Yes We Can Can.”

With their colorful costumes and music, the Mardi Gras Indians are among the first to return to the 2006 event, leading many New Orleanians to feel hopeful about the city's future.

The Second Line fuses performance and landscape as musicians, vendors and participants move through the city. "What would an authentic New Orleans future look like?" Excerpts from an interview with Gregory Davis, of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

New Orleans' “collectively self-authored culture,” moving between tradition and improvisation, will be paramount to the conservation and creolization of the city’s music and culture. Featuring an interview by Spitzer with Professor Michael White, a musician and historian of jazz.

An excerpt from Spitzer’s Q & A session following his presentation "Rebuilding New Orleans Culture and Community with Music" at the Society for Ethnomusicology's annual conference in Atlanta in November 2005.

Nick Spitzer, folklorist and anthropologist, is known for his work with community-based cultures of the Gulf Coast, American vernacular music, musicians, craftspeople, documentary media, and public cultural policy. He is the creator and host of Public Radio International's weekly program, American Routes, based in New Orleans and heard on over two hundred and twenty-five stations. Spitzer was founding director of the Louisiana Folklife Program and senior folklife specialist at the Smithsonian Institution. He has produced ethnographic films, radio documentaries and CDs on traditional culture, and he is co-editor of the book Public Folklore (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992).

With the exception of the Q & A session, the video of Spitzer's lecture was made at Emory University on March 9, 2006 in a presentation sponsored by the American Studies Program. All contemporary images of New Orleans are used with permission from Nick Spitzer, unless otherwise noted. For information on historic images, see Recommended Resources. Documentary footage included in Part 4 of plasterer and Seventh Ward resident Earl Barthé creating a molding in his workshop is courtesy of Marjorie Hunt.

Part 1 (4:41 min.) RealMedia \| Windows Media \| QuickTime	If New Orleans is to be a monument of living culture, local musicians and craftspeople and their cultural impressions must be central to the city’s restoration, rehabilitation, and rebirth. Commentary on major and minor versions of “Tipitina” as performed by Allen Toussaint.
Part 2 (3:43 min.) RealMedia \| Windows Media \| QuickTime	The most prominent aspects of public culture representing New Orleanians are found in the realms of work, particularly the building arts, and play, especially music and celebratory occasions. A discussion of “The Basin Street Blues.”
Part 3 (7:20 min.) RealMedia \| Windows Media \| QuickTime	Songs written by New Orleanians have often conveyed the experiences of living in a flood plain. Discussion of “It's Raining” and “Back Water Blues,” Bessie Smith and Irma Thomas; and Snooks Eaglin’s version of “Down by the Riverside.” (Eaglin image courtesy of Ed Newman.)
Part 4 (7:19 min.) RealMedia \| Windows Media \| QuickTime	The importance of the city's building arts to New Orleans’ expressive culture. Featuring an interview with Eddie Bo, as well as a musical excerpt from this sixth-generation Creole mason, carpenter, and piano professor.
Part 5 (5:31 min.) RealMedia \| Windows Media \| QuickTime	Musician and composer Allen Toussaint, in an interview with Spitzer, describes his post-Katrina experience as a balancing act of tragedy and kindness, saying, "there is no waterline on music." How Toussaint revised his well-known song, “Yes We Can Can.”
Part 6 (4:03 min.) RealMedia \| Windows Media \| QuickTime	With their colorful costumes and music, the Mardi Gras Indians are among the first to return to the 2006 event, leading many New Orleanians to feel hopeful about the city's future.
Part 7 (9:17 min.) RealMedia \| Windows Media \| QuickTime	The Second Line fuses performance and landscape as musicians, vendors and participants move through the city. "What would an authentic New Orleans future look like?" Excerpts from an interview with Gregory Davis, of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
Part 8 (3:06 min.) RealMedia \| Windows Media \| QuickTime	New Orleans' “collectively self-authored culture,” moving between tradition and improvisation, will be paramount to the conservation and creolization of the city’s music and culture. Featuring an interview by Spitzer with Professor Michael White, a musician and historian of jazz.