PART SIX
WAY DOWN
The massive global impact of African rhythms is the focus of this episode and how the barbarism of slavery, and the resilience of enslaved people, gave rise to genres such as blues, jazz, country, rock and roll and more. The episode also includes a dive into the rich musical history and tradition of a modern day musical Babylon; New Orleans.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE PEOPLE & INSTITUTIONS IN THIS EPISODE
Exclusive interviews in order of appearance in Part Six
Koroleko Moussa
Musician, Instrument maker, Music Educator
Website | Instagram
Joseph Dunn
Cultural Leader and Director, Laura Plantation
Website | Instagram
Malik Bartholomew
Historian and Tour Guide, New Orleans
Website | Instagram
Givonna Joseph
Opera singer, lecturer and therapist
Website | Instagram
Greg Lambousy
Director, New Orleans Jazz Museum
Website | Instagram
Donald Harrison Jr
Musician and composer, Big Chief of Congo Square
Website | Instagram
Professor Veit Heller
Curator, Grassi Museum
Website | Instagram
Professor Emma Hornby
Professor of Music
Instagram
Dr Fiorella Montero- Diaz
Lecturer in Ethnomusicology, Keele University
Website
Professor Marina Frolova-Walker
Music historian Cambridge
Website | Bluesky
Tyrus L Chapman
Trombone player, Hot 8 Brass Band
Website | Instagram
Ben Jaffe
Musician and creative director of Preservation Hall
Website | Instagram | Bluesky
Alvarez “Big Al” Huntley
Trumpet player, singer, Hot 8 Brass Band
Website | Instagram
Tim Johnson
Museum director & indigenous advisor
Website
PIQSIQ
Musicians
Website | Instagram
Sanju Sahai
Musician, Head of the Benares Tabla
Website | Instagram
Some of the institutions releavant to this episode
The Cosmic Shambles Network
Website | Instagram | Bluesky
Kings Place Music Foundation
Website | Instagram
The Royal Institution
Website | Instagram
Preservation Hall
Website | Instagram
Grassi Voelkerkunde Museum
Website
OperaCréole
Website
Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum
Website
New Orleans Jazz Museum
Website
Know NOLA
Website
Guardians Institute
Website
FURTHER READING LIST
If you’d like to dig into any of the topics in this episode a little deeper, you can subscribe to our Patreon for upcoming extended interviews or pick up one of the books below. These are books by the interviewees featured in this episode, books we read in our research and recommended fascinating books of the topics covered.
- Memories of the Old Plantation Home: A Creole Family Album by Laura Locoul Gore, Norman Marmillion and Sandy Marmillion Buy It
- Stalin’s Music Prize: Soviet Culture and Politics by Marina Frolova-Walker Buy It
- Spirit Capture: Photographs from the National Museum of the American Indian by Tim Johnson Buy It
- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass Buy It
- Congo Square : African Roots in New Orleans by Freddi Williams Evans Buy It
- Faubourg Treme by Alexis Pazoumian and Jacques Denis by Buy It
- Slave Songs of the United States by William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware & Lucy McKim Garrison Buy It
- Jockomo: The Native Roots of Mardi Gras Indians by Shane Lief & John McCusker Buy It
- Louis Armstrong in His Own Words by Louis Armstrong Buy It
- Louis Armstrong: An Extravagent Life by Laurence Bergreen Buy It
- Louis Armstrong’s New Orleans by Thomas Brothers Buy It
- Louis Armstrong – Singing, Swinging, Satchmo by Sanderson Brown Buy It
- Queer Blues: The Hidden Figures of Early Blues Music by Darryl W Bullock Buy It
- The Jazz Book by Joachim-Ernst Berendt Buy It
- Up From the Cradle of Jazz: New Orleans Music Since World War II by Jason Berry, Jonathon Foose and Tad Jones Buy It
- Mahalia Jackson and the Black Gospel Field by Mark Burford Buy It
- Testimony by Robbie Robertson Buy It
- New Orleans Jazzlife 1960 by William Claxton and Joachim E. Berendt Buy It
- R. Crumb’s Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country by Robert Crumb Buy It
- The History Of The Blues: The Roots, The Music, The People by Francis Davis Buy It
- Under a Hoodoo Moon: The Life of Dr. John the Night Tripper by Dr John with Jack Rummel Buy It
- But Beautiful: A Book About Jazz by Geoff Dyer Buy It
- Blues and the Poetic Spirit by Paul Garon Buy It
- The Lost Music of the Holocaust: Bringing the music of the camps to the ears of the world at last by Francesco Lotoro Buy It
- Treme: Race and Place in a New Orleans Neighborhood by Michael E. Crutcher Jr. Buy It
- The Devil’s Music by Giles Oakley Buy It
- Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta by Robert Palmer Buy It
- Two-Headed Doctor: Listening For Ghosts in Dr. Johns Gris-Gris by David Toop Buy It
PLAYLIST
Each episode we’ll present you with a playlist of all the songs featured, mentioned or discussed in the episode. Enjoy the playlist and if you do discover some new music you enjoy, please do buy the album or single and support the artists!
Part Six Playlist
- Bobby Cole – Vintage Johnson Blues
- Koroleko Moussa – Take Me
- The Fisk Jubilee Singers – Wade In The Water
- Mahalia Jackson – Go Tell It On the Mountain
- The Fisk Jubilee Singers – Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
- B.B. King – Worry, Worry
- Louis Armstrong – When The Saints Go Marching In
- Donald Harrison; Dr. John – Hu-ta-Nay
- Paco de Lucía – Entre Dos Aguas
- Dr. John – Let the Good Times Roll
- Sidney Bechet – I Got Rhythm
- Treme Brass Band – Amazing Grace
- Hot 8 Brass Band – What’s My Name?
- Preservation Hall Jazz Band – Summertime
- Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats with Preservation Hall Jazz Band – S.O.B.
- Charley Patton – A Spoonful Blues
- Robert Johnson – Me and the Devil Blues
- Mildred Bailey with Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra – All of Me
- Playing For Change; Robbie Robertson; Ringo Starr; Lukas Nelson; Mermans Mosengo – The Weight
- Mahalia Jackson – That’s All Right
- Frank Sinatra; Louis Armstrong – Birth Of The Blues
- Cold Chisel – Way Down
QUIZ
How closely were you paying attention? Take our episode quiz to test yourself, your friends, your family, your children, random passers by…
1.Which type of drum was used as an early form of telephone in West Africa?
The djembe
2. What famous African folk stories from the Laura Plantation were later adapted into a pretty racist Disney movie?
The Tales of Br’er Rabbit and Br’er Fox.
3. What is the name of the group of gospel singers who perform the oldest known recording of a spiritual, in this case, ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’?
The Fisk Jubilee Singers
4. O Lord, when do you want to be, in that number?
O When the Saints Go Marchin’ In.
5. New Orleans was a former colony of which European country?
France
6.Who was there German inventor and instrument maker responsible for creating the chromatic valve trumpet?
Christian Friedrich Sattler
7. The theme of which children’s TV show was used by the US Military and others as a form of genuine torture?
A slowed down version of the the theme from Barney and Friends
8. Donald Harrison Jr is the Big Chief of where?
Big Chief of Congo Square.
9. Coeur d’Alene Native American singer Mildred Bailey was a huge influence on which 20 time Grammy winning singer?
Tony Bennett.
10. Which musician does Quincy Jones credit as being the cornerstone of American Music
Louis Armstrong. Satchmo. Satch. Pops. All acceptable answers.
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