Outer Journey
Music is one way that people all over the world connect
through. It may be rap, hip hop, jazz, blues, pop or country, whatever it is
people use it to tell their own stories or other people’s stories. There isn’t
a day that goes by that I don’t listen to music. I listen to it when I’m sad,
mad, annoyed, or happy. I don’t even have to feel any sort of way. I listen to
it because it sometimes helps me escape from reality. In the city of New
Orleans, music is everywhere. It is primarily known for its Jazz. Their roots
with Jazz run as deep as the Mississippi and still continue to live on today.
New Orleans is is birthplace of Jazz and no one can play it better than the
people of New Orleans. New Orleans was the only place where slaves could own
their own drums, hints the African drums. They are very deep sounding and are
hit with a stick that has a big circular white top that looks like a marshmallow.
Drums are used to make people feel alive and I imagine that the slaves used
them every day to give them purpose. Some say that Jazz was born in 1895 by
Buddy Bolden and others will say it was born in 1917, when Nick LaRocca and his
Original Dixieland Jazz Band recorded the first Jazz record. Jazz is very much
alive in our world today. It may be different or modified, but it is still
being played all over the world. In New Orleans Jazz music is played on the
streets, at funerals, during parades, and even in your homes. Jazz was created
to bring people together and it did just that. When I was there I heard so many
different genres of music. I went into a pub and listened to a form of Jazz. It
was songs of today’s hits but with a different kick to it. I was shocked at how
much I liked it. I would honestly even think about buying it on Itunes if it
was on there. Even though it was really good, I found myself to like these
local street performers best. One of them were these two people, a woman and a
man and they were playing the violin. The other was this Bluesy County artists
that had a deep voice with some country twang. This wasn’t the only type of
music I heard. I also heard reggae walking by a bar on Frenchman Street, more
jazz, Blues and even some of the pop music that is played on the radio today.
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Jazzy Hip-Hop
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| Country Blues |
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| Country Blues |
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| Street Performers |
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| Violinists |
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Jazzy Hip-Hop
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Inner journey
Personally music is my get away and without it I would be
lost. I think the people of New Orleans would be lost without music as well. Like
I said before, music is used in everyday life and is means to be used to as a
way to celebrate. The city in my eyes showed me music is important. It is
diverse, different and it has the power to may everyone in the city to feel
alive. When you walk by a bar or even a performer in the street, you look
around the crowd and you can just tell how interested everyone is and how much
they fell the music inside them. You see people closing their eyes bopping
their heads and you have others taking videos or staring at them smiling because
they are excited to hear more. For the ones really listening to the music, it
most likely made them feel a strong emotion. It is the times where people
really listen to the music and want to understand it. When you have others
smiling and taking videos you find them intrigued and really enjoying
themselves. When you play a song in your car and you’re with someone else and
when they start singing that song you get so happy because you know that song
too and you just connect and start singing together. That’s what it feels like
when you find people really enjoying the music. When you are sad I think you
really find out what the lyrics mean and you relate them to how you are
feeling. There was no time when I was sad listening to the music there because they
play upbeat music that made me just want to dance. When I heard the Reggae
music, all I could do was smile and feel happy because it reminds me of when I
was on vacation in Jamaica and Bob Marley was playing in the background while I
was at the beach. It made me think of all the happy times I had on that entire
vacation. Now while I am home I have heard some sort of Jazz and it has made me
think of New Orleans almost instantly. Through this entire journey of visiting
the city and learning about the history and music of New Orleans, I started to
appreciate my small town of Havana in Illinois. I never really thought of music
being a key part in my small town, but after experiencing music in the city it
made me realize that it is a key in our daily lives and it brings us together.
You should see when someone of my dad’s age sings a song from the Beatles and
you know it. They are so shocked and so happy to know that “good music” still
is alive in our society today. I am so glad I got to experience first-hand what
it was like to be a part of the city of New Orleans.
