CHELLE! And Friends My Darling New Orleans Mardi Gras Show

Ask 20 people how to define the music of New Orleans and you’ll get 30 different answers. It could be jazz, funk, soul, Creole, Cajun, or gospel, Caribbean, African, Zydeco, rock or the chants and stirring rhythms of the Mardi Gras Indians. Join CHELLE! And Friends on a magical soul shakin’ tour of the music and history of African Americans in NOLA as Rhythmix Cultural Works presents My Darling New Orleans: A Mardi Gras Show with CHELLE! And Friends. From Blues to the Mardi Gras Indians, CHELLE! And Friends delivers a stewpot of musical gumbo that is sweet, spicy, aromatic and definitely intoxicating. CHELLE! and Friends is made up of some of the most distinguished and accomplished musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area, including New Orleans native, and Oakland’s own “Queen of New Orleans Music”, Michelle Jacques. As artistic director and founder, Chelle brings together some very special friends to perform music that is vibrant and alive with the driving voices of Rhonda Crane, Jay Lamont and Bryan Dyer, Donna Viscuso on woodwinds, Eric Swinerman on guitar, Kevin Scott on bass and Michaelle Goerlitz on drums. Although the repertoire includes gospel, folk, blues, and pop songs from around the country, New Orleans music in its many varieties – jazz, R&B, swamp pop, and Mardi Gras Indian music, among them – has been the group’s focus since its inception in early 2005. Preserving those sounds became an even more urgent mission after Hurricane Katrina stuck the Crescent City later that year. This musically rich performance transcends ethnic boundaries, uplifts, brings news, protests, motivates and honors our richness and diversity.