The reverence and revelry of a New Orleans jazz funeral procession
Drawing from West African, Haitian and European colonial influences, jazz funerals are a tradition almost entirely exclusive to New Orleans, and as culturally rich and multifaceted as the city itself. The processions generally open with a brass band performing solemn marches and dirges as family and friends accompany the deceased to a burial. Eventually, the band breaks out into more upbeat and swinging numbers, allowing mourners cathartic release in music and dance, and onlookers to form a ‘second line’ and join the festivities. In what director Caitlyn Greene describes as ‘a love letter to New Orleans’, Big Daddy’s Last Dance captures the arc of a jazz funeral, in all its reverent, jubilant glory.
Directors: Caitlyn Greene, Jon Kasbe
videoMusic
A riveting audiovisual dive into what makes sounds harmonious, or not
28 minutes
videoProgress and modernity
Moving from Tibet to Beijing, Drolma reconciles big dreams with harsh realities
31 minutes
videoGender
A catchy tune explains the world’s ‘isms’ – according to your mum doing the laundry
5 minutes
videoFood and drink
The passage of time is a peculiar thing in a 24-hour diner
14 minutes
videoArt
Radical doodles – how ‘exquisite corpse’ games embodied the Surrealist movement
15 minutes
videoBeauty and aesthetics
Can you see music in this painting? How synaesthesia fuelled Kandinsky’s art
10 minutes
