Description
Format: All Regions
Release Date: 2016
Label: MVD Visual
NEW ORLEANS MUSIC IN EXILE examines what Hurricane Katrina and breached levees did to the city’s music community.
Shot two months after Hurricane Katrina; the one film that analyzed what Hurricane Katrina and breached levees did to the New Orleans music community, including the relocation of musicians to other cities throughout the South.
Like their neighbors, members of the legendary New Orleans music community were devastated by Hurricane Katrina and its tragic aftermath. With NEW ORLEANS MUSIC IN EXILE, noted music documentarian Robert Mugge (DEEP BLUES, GOSPEL ACCORDING TO AL GREEN, THE KINGDOM OF ZYDECO, RHYTHM ‘N’ BAYOUS) creates an emotional portrait of horror, heartbreak, and hope as the musicians who lived through the disaster pick up the pieces and try to rebuild their lives. Many Crescent City artists are shown giving post-Katrina performances, among them Dr. John, Cyril Neville, Irma Thomas, Kermit Ruffins, Marcia Ball, Theresa Andersson, Eddie Bo, Rebirth Brass Band, The Iguanas, Jon Cleary, Cowboy Mouth, and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, and interviews with these and other musicians make it clear how a Category 5 hurricane, broken levees, floods, looting, black mold, and their consequences wreaked havoc on music and life in America’s most colorful city. Mugge, his fellow producer Diana Zelman, and their dedicated crew filmed these interviews and performances not only in New Orleans, but also in Memphis, Lafayette, Houston, and Austin a mere two months after the storm. It was a time when most citizens of New Orleans were living elsewhere, and when few of the city’s musicians had even tried to reclaim what was left of their damaged homes and music clubs. It was also a time when few stores, hotels, or restaurants were open for business, and when no one knew if the city as a whole could ever again support those who had left it. In addition to the film itself, the MVD Blu-ray of NEW ORLEANS MUSIC IN EXILE will also include a wealth of bonus features, all of them shot on HD video: an 18-minute short about Lafayette public radio executive David Spizale’s personal rescue efforts in New Orleans; Jon Cleary performing ”A History of New Orleans Piano”; six additional bonus performances by participating New Orleans musicians; and seven extended versions of songs performed in the film itself.
FEATURING
Theresa Andersson – Like A Hurricane
Dr. John – Right Place, Wrong Time
Cyril Neville – Hey Pockey Way
Big Chief Monk Boudreaux – Lightning and Thunder
Irma Thomas – Smoke Filled Room
Theresa Andersson – It’s Gonna Be Okay
Stephen Assaf – All Of Me
Eddie Bo – My Dearest Darling
Marcia Ball – That’s Enough of That Stuff
Marcia Ball – Louisiana 1927
Kermit Ruffins – When the Saints Go Marching In
Rebirth Brass Band – Lord, Lord, Lord
The Iguanas – Un Avion
The Iguanas – Right Now I’m A’ Roamin’
Cyril Neville – Blues For New Orleans
Cyril Neville – I Will Survive
World Leader Pretend – A Grammarian Stuck In A Medical Drama
Cowboy Mouth – VooDoo Shoppe
Cowboy Mouth – Home
beatinpath – Band On The Run
Jon Cleary – Moonburn
Papa Grows Funk – Rat a Tang Tang
Dr. John – I Walk On Guilded Splinters
Dr. John – Sweet Home New Orleans
Reviews
Historically invaluable…an intimate and eye-popping meditation on the resiliency of the artists and the magnitude of the loss.’
Eddie Cockrell, Variety
‘NEW ORLEANS MUSIC IN EXILE should not be missed. Eye-opening stuff.’
Boston Herald
‘Thoughtful, soulful and richly atmospheric [with] powerhouse performances.’
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
‘This film is a tragic yet triumphant story of the human spirit… It serves as an inspiration to us all.’
Steve Hammer –NUVO (Indianapolis)
