New Orleans - the most human city I know has to be the first stop on my pull to tune into the pulse of place. It’s the most magnetic of places. Here it feels like the air is thicker, the light has currents in it and the ground is …bouncy. And bubbling up from those streets is the second line, a rolling block party, a neighbourhood parade, a high-voltage current coursing through the city’s veins every Sunday with music, community, freedom and culture. For many Black New Orleanians it’s the day when you own the streets, so you better bring that FOOTWORK
We kick off the series with me getting my feet back on the ground at the Ole & Nu Style Fellas parade in the 6th Ward. Then we step off the sidewalk to go find the wonderful Jarrad DeGruy, whose footwork is unmatched, and whose spirit behind it is key to understanding the relationship between the second liners of New Orleans and the ground upon which they dance.
Credits
Featuring the voices of
Jared DeGruy, and AJ, Keisha, Paula, Joe, Stanley, Ducky, Harold, Tana, Herman, Charles at the
Ole & Nu Style Fellas Social Aid & Pleasure Club parade
What is Lowlines?
Lowlines is a sonic scrapbook and a passport to roam. Following one woman’s pull to tune into the pulse of place - befriending strangers along the way.
Feeling pranged out by the London business hustle, food entrepreneur Petra Barran brought an audio recorder and set off with no itinerary, guided simply by a hunger to get lower and closer to the ground.
The series is a holiday for the ears, taking us to the heartbeat of New Orleans, the low-slung wetlands of South Louisiana, the slow gyrations of the Amtrak to Tucson. Down to the brittle rasp of the Sonoran desert, the rich, volcanic soil of Mexico City’s Aztec allotments and further, to the soaring jungle chorus of the Peruvian Amazon.