Cha Wa

Cha Wa is a Grammy-nominated Mardi Gras Indian funk band based out of New Orleans, Louisiana. The name Cha Wa is a slang phrase used by Mardi Gras Indian tribes, meaning "we're comin' for ya" or "here we come".[1] Frontman J'Wan Boudreaux is known for dressing in traditional Mardi Gras Indian clothing during performances, including an intricately designed 20-inch headdress.[2]

Cha Wa
Cha Wa in 2017
Background information
OriginNew Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
GenresFunk, Second Line, Jam Band
Years active2014–present
Websitechawaband.com
MembersSecond Chief Joseph Boudreaux
Joe Gelini
Ari Teitel
Joseph "José" Maize
Andrew "Andriu" Yanovski
Aurélien Barnes
Isaac Eady
Stephen Gladney

Cha Wa has released two albums, Funk n Feathers in 2015 and Spyboy in 2018. In 2018 Spyboy received critical acclaim and was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Regional Roots Music Album category.[3] Cha Wa was nominated in several categories at the 2019 OffBeat Best of the Beat Awards.[4]

About

Cha Wa was formed in 2014 by bandleader and drummer, Joe Gelini. Gelini first heard of Mardi Gras Indians while he was attending the Berklee School of Music in Boston. During his time in Boston, he went to see a performance by Idris Muhammad, a New Orleans-born jazz drummer. Muhammed was performing in traditional Mardi Gras style, which piqued Gelini's interest. Muhammed later gave Gelini a lesson in Mardi Gras style which pushed Gelini to move to New Orleans after graduation.[5]

Gelini quickly became involved with the Mardi Gras Indian community in New Orleans. He began attending practice rehearsals for Mardi Gras marches. It was at these practices that he met Monk Boudreaux, the grandfather of Cha Wa's future frontman, J'Wan Boudreaux. Monk Boudreaux is also known as Big Chief of the Golden Eagles and one of the most widely known Mardi Gras Indian singers. Gelini's practices alongside Monk Boudreaux quickly turned into performances with him.[2]

Gelini met J'Wan Boudreaux while Boudreaux was still attending high school. Boudreaux then came on as Cha Wa's lead vocalist and frontman.

Boudreaux is the Spyboy of his Mardi Gras Indian tribe, a respected position that entails warning the Chief of approaching rival tribes during parade processions. The band aptly named their second album Spyboy.[6]

Spyboy

Cha Wa's Grammy-nominated album, Spyboy, is deeply influenced by New Orleans street culture.[3] The band aimed to give traditional New Orleans music a modern twist. In Gelini's words, "We wanted to take the roots of what we love about New Orleans brass band music and Mardi Gras Indian music and then voice it in our own way".[5]

Spyboy was produced by Galactic's Ben Ellman and features special guests Big Chief Monk Boudreaux (The Wild Magnolias, HBO's Treme) and Nigel Hall (Lettuce, Nth Power, and Danica Hart).[5]

On the collaborative nature of the record, frontman Boudreaux said "Everyone put their minds together to make this music. Everyone had input on at least one song".[5]

The track "Chapters" was written by Boudreaux and explores the struggles he faced being raised in a single parent household. "J'Wans Story" gives Boudreaux a chance to explain how and why Mardi Gras Indian culture developed.[2]

Gelini and Monk Boudreaux teamed up to write "Visible Means of Support". The song chronicles Monk Boudreaux's experience with "vagrancy" laws in the city that primarily affected African-American men.[2]

Touring and performances

In early 2019, Cha Wa performed at GlobalFest. In a review of the festival, Rolling Stone explained Cha Wa's performance as "a portable Mardi Gras dance party".[7] That spring, the band played several shows at SXSW, including GlobalFest's official showcase at Palm Door on Sixth and the Brooklyn Bowl Family Reunion at the Historic Scoot Inn.[8] A few weeks later, the group was featured at a celebration of 50 years of New Orleans music and culture by Relix Magazine at the New Orleans Jazz Museum.[9] Summer 2019 saw Cha Wa play several large music festivals including the 29th annual High Sierra Music Festival,[10] Montreal International Jazz Festival,[11] and the Philadelphia Folk Festival[12] among many others.

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References
  1. "Globalfest: Music from All over the World". pastemagazine.com.
  2. "Cha Wa: They're Comin' For Ya!". www.pollstar.com.
  3. Spera, Keith. "Who are the 2019 Grammy nominees from New Orleans? PJ Morton, Cha Wa and more". NOLA.com.
  4. Staff, OffBeat. "The Best Music of the Year: The 50 best albums of 2018". OffBeat Magazine.
  5. "Bio". Cha Wa.
  6. "Mardi Gras Indians History and Tradition - Mardi Gras New Orleans". www.mardigrasneworleans.com.
  7. Hermes, Will (January 9, 2019). "Globalfest 2019: 5 Best Things We Saw".
  8. "Events Featuring Cha Wa". Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  9. "Relix Celebrates 50 Years of New Orleans Music and Culture". Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  10. "High Sierra Music Festival Announces Initial 2019 Lineup". December 30, 2018.
  11. "Jazz fest picks, July 1: Cha Wa brings New Orleans party to Montreal". July 1, 2019.
  12. "58th Annual Philadelphia Folk Festival Announces Lineup!". Retrieved July 30, 2019.
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