Mardi Gras Music "Big Chief" part 2

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Mardi Gras Song # 1 "Big Chief" parts 1&2

Sung by Professor Longhair

Recorded April 1970 Jazz City Studio ( also known as "Seas Saint") Camp Street, New Orleans, Louisiana

The sound of this 10 member band is unmistakably New Orleans. Led by 'Bo Dollis, Big Chief of The Wild Magnolias; and Monk Breaux, Big Chief of the Golden Eagles. Bo and Monk's Chieftain status continues a tradition of harmonic tribal Unity that dates back to the 1800's These tribes were formed to Pay Homage to the Native-American Indians who befriended runaway slaves and afforded them a Haven of Safety. In New Orleans, on Mardi Gras Day these Indian tribes conduct street parades called second lines. These second lines are conducted all over New Orleans with over 28 Indian tribes; whose members total close to 400. Locals call this the real Mardi Gras.

Big Chief Theodore Emile "Bo" Dollis was born in New Orleans in 1944. As a child he followed a tribe known as the White Eagles, and he began "masking" as a Mardi Gras "Indian" in 1957 as a member of the Golden Arrows. In 1964 Dollis became the Big Chief of the Wild Magnolias. In 1970 the Wild Magnolias recorded a single entitled Handa Wanda for the Crescent City label; nearly 30 years later Handa Wanda remains a local favorite and a perennial Mardi Gras classic. Two albums were produced in the mid-'70s, The Wild Magnolias and They Call Us Wild, on Rounder Records. Life is a Carnival marked their debut on the Metro Blue label.

Joseph Pierre "Monk" Boudreaux was born in New Orleans in 1941. He has "masked Indian" since the late 1950s, and collaborated with Bo Dollis and the Wild Magnolias since the mid-'70s. Boudreaux is exclusively featured on Lightning and Thunder: The Golden Eagles Recorded Live and in Context at the H& R Bar, New Orleans, a 1988 release on Rounder. Dollis and Boudreaux continue to revel in their culture, music, Afro-Caribbean rhythms, and splendid costumes, just as they have done for decades.

What surprised us when we looked all this up, was how wide and far the group has spread since it's first album and these cuts. It was May 03, 1994 and the tribe was set to cut the Album, "The Wild Magnolias" to introduce a new type of folk music to the world. Little did they know that they and their folk music would bring a "whole new" appreciation for the New Orleans culture.