Contents

New Orleans ............................................................................................................................................ 2

Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 2
Jazz ........................................................................................................................................................... 3
Jazz history........................................................................................................................................... 4
Jazz performers ................................................................................................................................... 6
Louis Daniel Armstrong (1901-71) .................................................................................................. 6
Charles Mingus (1922-79)................................................................................................................ 7
Duke Ellington (1899-1974) ............................................................................................................. 7
Mardi Gras ............................................................................................................................................... 8
History ................................................................................................................................................. 8
Mardi Gras Traditions ........................................................................................................................ 10
Voodoo .................................................................................................................................................. 11
New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum ............................................................................................ 12
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 13
Refrences ............................................................................................................................................... 14
New Orleans
Introduction

New Orleans, city, southeastern Louisiana, U.S. Unquestionably one of the most
distinctive cities of the New World, New Orleans was established at great cost in an
environment of conflict. Its strategic position, commanding the mouth of the great
Mississippi-Missouri river system, which drains the rich interior of North America,
made it a pawn in the struggles of Europeans for the control of North America. As a
result, the peoples of New Orleans evolved a unique culture and society, while at the
same time blending many heritages. Its citizens of African descent provided a special
contribution in making New Orleans the birthplace of jazz. Also the very important
part of the New Orleans culture is voodoo,and today is known by being the capital
city of Voodoo magic.

History

The history of New Orleans, Louisiana, traces the city's development from its
founding by the French, through its period under Spanish control, then briefly back to
French rule before being acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase. In
the 19th century, New Orleans was the largest port in the South, exporting most of
the nation's cotton output and other products to Western Europe and New England.
It was the largest and most important city in the South, thus being an early target for
capture by the Union during the Civil War. With its rich and unique cultural and
architectural heritage, it remains a major destination for tourism, conventions, and
major sports events, even after the major destruction and loss of life resulting from
Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

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Jazz

Jazz, musical form, often improvisational, developed by African Americans and

influenced by both European harmonic structure and African rhythms. It was
developed partially from ragtime and blues and is often characterized by syncopated
rhythms, polyphonic ensemble playing, varying degrees of improvisation, often
deliberate deviations of pitch, and the use of original timbres.
Jazz, in fact, is not—and never has been—an entirely composed, predetermined
music, nor is it an entirely extemporized one. For almost all of its history it has
employed both creative approaches in varying degrees and endless permutations.

Jazz concert in San Francisco,1958

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Jazz history

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New

Orleans, United States. It originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and
developed from roots in blues and ragtime. Jazz is seen by many as "America's
classical music". Since the 1920s Jazz Age, jazz has become recognized as a major
form of musical expression. It then emerged in the form of independent traditional
and popular musical styles, all linked by the common bonds of African-American and
European-American musical parentage with a performance orientation. Jazz is
characterized by swing and blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and
improvisation. Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in
African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European
military band music. Intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as "one of
America's original art forms".

As jazz spread around the world, it drew on national, regional, and local musical
cultures, which gave rise to different styles. New Orleans jazz began in the early
1910s, combining earlier brass-band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and
blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. In the 1930s, heavily arranged dance-
oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz, a hard-swinging, bluesy, improvisational
style and Gypsy jazz (a style that emphasized musette waltzes) were the prominent
styles. Bebop emerged in the 1940s, shifting jazz from danceable popular music
toward a more challenging "musician's music" which was played at faster tempos and
used more chord-based improvisation. Cool jazz developed near the end of the
1940s, introducing calmer, smoother sounds and long, linear melodic lines.

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The 1950s saw the emergence of free jazz, which explored playing without regular
meter, beat and formal structures, and in the mid-1950s, hard bop emerged, which
introduced influences from rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues, especially in the
saxophone and piano playing. Modal jazz developed in the late 1950s, using the
mode, or musical scale, as the basis of musical structure and improvisation. Jazz-rock
fusion appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s, combining jazz improvisation with
rock music's rhythms, electric instruments, and highly amplified stage sound. In the
early 1980s, a commercial form of jazz fusion called smooth jazz became successful,
garnering significant radio airplay. Other styles and genres abound in the 2000s, such
as Latin and Afro-Cuban jazz.

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Jazz performers

Louis Daniel Armstrong (1901-71)

Nicknamed Satchmo,Satch, and Pops, was an American trumpeter, composer,
vocalist and occasional actor who was one of the most influential figures in jazz. His
career spanned five decades, from the 1920s to the 1960s, and different eras in the
history of jazz. In 2017, he was inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.
As the most accessible of all jazz performers and a universally beloved figure, Louis
Armstrong introduced jazz to a countless number of listeners while symbolizing the
music for millions. His importance to jazz, whether through his solos, singing or ability
to win over listeners, cannot be measured. The history of jazz, American music and
music in general would be much different if there had not been for him.

Music is life itself. What would this world be without good music? No matter
what kind it is.
-Louis Daniel Amstrong

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Charles Mingus (1922-79)
He was an American jazz double bassist, pianist, composer and bandleader. A major
proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz
musicians and composers in history.
His compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop, drawing heavily from
black gospel music and blues, while sometimes containing elements of Third Stream,
free jazz, and classical music.

Duke Ellington (1899-1974)

Duke Ellington is one of the most important composers in the history of American
music. He’s best known for the over 3,000 songs that he wrote in his lifetime. Some
of his most popular compositions include It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That
Swing), Mood Indigo, Satin Doll and In A Mellow Tone. His famous band, The Duke
Ellington Orchestra, is arguably one of the most important big bands of the swing era,
alongside the Count Basie Orchestra, and Benny Goodman’s Orchestra. Many of his
compositions have become part of standard jazz repertoire and are still played
today.His compositions, personality, and band made a huge impact on jazz.

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Mardi Gras

History

The origins of Mardi Gras can be traced to medieval Europe, passing through Rome
and Venice in the 17th and 18th centuries to the French House of the Bourbons. From
here, the traditional revelry of "Boeuf Gras," or fatted calf, followed France to its
colonies. On March 2, 1699, French-Canadian explorer Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur
de Bienville arrived at a plot of ground 60 miles directly south of New Orleans, and
named it "Pointe du Mardi Gras" when his men realized it was the eve of the festive
holiday. Bienville also established "Fort Louis de la Louisiane" (which is now Mobile)
in 1702. In 1703, the tiny settlement of Fort Louis de la Mobile celebrated America's
very first Mardi Gras. In 1704, Mobile established a secret society (Masque de la
Mobile), similar to those that form the current Mardi Gras krewes. It lasted until
1709. In 1710, the "Boeuf Gras Society" was formed and paraded from 1711 through
1861. The procession was held with a huge bull's head pushed along on wheels by 16
men. Later, Rex would parade with an actual bull, draped in white and signaling the
coming Lenten meat fast. This occurred on Fat Tuesday. New Orleans was established
in 1718 by Bienville. By the 1730s, Mardi Gras was celebrated openly in New Orleans,
but not with the parades we know today. In the early 1740s, Louisiana's governor, the
Marquis de Vaudreuil, established elegant society balls, which became the model for
the New Orleans Mardi Gras balls of today. The earliest reference to Mardi Gras
"Carnival" appears in a 1781 report to the Spanish colonial governing body. That year,
the Perseverance Benevolent & Mutual Aid Association was the first of hundreds of
clubs and carnival organizations formed in New Orleans. By the late 1830s, New
Orleans held street processions of maskers with carriages and horseback riders to
celebrate Mardi Gras. Dazzling gaslight torches, or "flambeaux," lit the way for the

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krewe's members and lent each event an exciting air of romance and festivity. In
1856, six young Mobile natives formed the Mistick Krewe of Comus, invoking John
Milton's hero Comus to represent their organization. Comus brought magic and
mystery to New Orleans with dazzling floats (known as tableaux cars) and masked
balls. Krewe members remained anonymous. Newspapers began to announce Mardi
Gras events in advance, and they even printed "Carnival Edition" lithographs of
parades' fantastic float designs (after they rolled, of course - themes and floats were
always carefully guarded before the procession). At first, these reproductions were
small, and details could not be clearly seen. But beginning in 1886 with Proteus'
parade "Visions of Other Worlds," these chromolithographs could be produced in full,
saturated color, doing justice to the float and costume designs of Carlotta Bonnecase,
Charles Briton and B.A. Wikstrom. Each of these designers' work was brought to life
by talented Parisian paper-mache' artist Georges Soulie', who for 40 years was
responsible for creating all of Carnival's floats and processional outfits. 1872 was the
year that a group of businessmen invented a King of Carnival, Rex, to preside over the
first daytime parade. To honor the visiting Russian Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff, the
businessmen introduced Romanoff's family colors of purple, green and gold as
Carnival's official colors. Purple stands for justice; gold for power; and green for faith.
This was also the Mardi Gras season that Carnival's improbable anthem, "If Ever I
Cease to Love," was cemented, due in part to the Duke's fondness for the tune.The
following year, floats began to be constructed entirely in New Orleans instead of
France, culminating with Comus' magnificent "The Missing Links to Darwin's Origin of
Species," in which exotic paper-mache' animal costumes served as the basis for
Comus to mock both Darwin's theory and local officials, including Governor Henry
Warmoth. In 1875, Governor Warmoth signed the "Mardi Gras Act," making Fat
Tuesday a legal holiday in Louisiana, which it still is.

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Mardi Gras Traditions

You will see people wear costumes or at least dress in purple, green, and gold, and
adorn themselves with long beads caught from the floats of previous parades. You'll
see a lot of crazy costumes, kids with their families are everywhere, and both locals
and visitors having a great time. Parade goers will sit on the ground, throw balls, play
music, eat great food and watch the crowds walk by between parades. On Mardi Gras
day, the majority of non-essential businesses are shut down because of the
celebration.

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Voodoo

Voodoo is as intrinsic to New Orleans culture as Mardi Gras and Jazz. Voodoo is a
religion connected to nature, spirits and ancestors, not unlike other religions around
the world. A fusion of African, Haitian and Catholic spiritual beliefs and practices, it
gained popularity among the slave population of New Orleans during the 18th
century. It has its share of colorful mythologies and personalities, just as other
religions do, but Voodoo got cloaked with a darker, more sinister mystique, the result
of misinterpretation and misunderstanding over the years. The word Vodou is a
Haitian Creole rendering of several different West African words in several West
African languages, including Ewa, Fon, and Kwa. The word vodun, in its basic sense
simply means spirit. There is no official Church of Vodou, no universally accepted
sacred texts, and no standardized set of rituals. Vodou takes on many different forms
throughout the parts of the world in which it is practiced.

Queen of Voodoo

In the 1830's, Marie Laveau was known as the most powerful and famous Queen of
Voodoo. People all around would seek her out for help. She worked with medicine
and indigenous herbs to heal people. She was born in 1801 and died in 1881, she lays
at rest in St. Louis Cemetery. People believe her spirit lurks around the cemetery, and
in hopes of obtaining her spiritual blessing they leave offerings such as candles,
flowers, and Voodoo dolls.

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New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum

Founded in 1972 by Charles Massicot Gandolfo, a local artist with a passion for all
things Voodoo, the small museum has been inviting its visitors to experience
mysticism and the occult for almost half a century. His museum focuses on what’s
commonly known as Louisiana, or New Orleans Voodoo.

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Conclusion

Understanding the roots of New Orleans adds color and dimension to the vibrancy of
this city , a city with a rhythm, style and attitude all its own. It’s a city of festivals, of
freewheeling fun, of go-cups poured in the bars where cocktails were invented. It’s a
place where pirates and ghosts have free rein, where cemeteries are above-ground
cities of the dead and Voodoo has its own royal queen. New Orleans is like no other
place in the world, a city formed by the superstitions, traditions and history of
Creoles, Spaniards, French, Irish, Italians, enslaved Africans and free people of color. I
am fascinated with this city and I hope I will visit New Orleans some day.

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 Refrences
1. Ted Gioia , The History of Jazz, Oxford University Press, Oxford
2. Јадран Ерчић, Књига о Џезу (друго допуњено издање), РТС издаваштво,
Београд
3.
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=84fe35582c2b4b78b37
e634e8e3dad47

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