INTERVIEW: Joe Gelini brings Mardi Gras Indian music to the forefront with Cha Wa
Drummer and band leader Joe Gelini revels in the Mardi Gras Indian culture of New Orleans. He loves the music. He loves the dancing. He loves the unique musical history, and he puts these loves together in the band Cha Wa, which are set to play the Abita Beer stage at this year’s French Quarter Fest.
Finding success as a band in New Orleans can take a lot of skill, luck and risk. Gelini and his band members have survived, and they’re sticking to their original dreams.
“Basically it just started out of my love and fascination for Mardi Gras Indian music and culture, and I got immersed in it after playing drums with one of the co-founders of the Wild Magnolias,” Gelini said in a recent phone interview. “His name is Big Chief [Monk] Boudreaux, and he’s one of the Mardi Gras Indians in New Orleans. And I was playing drums for him, and he really gave me a lot of insight in the culture. And I was able to then second line with him on Mardi Gras Day and Super Sunday and St. Joseph’s Night, and then he also hit me to go into Mardi Gras Indian practice Uptown.”
That education was key to Gelini’s success. Today, he tours Cha Wa around New Orleans, the United States and even internationally, always bringing with him those lessons from the early days.
“I feel like my dreams are coming true because part of the reason for starting this band, kind of like a mission statement, was that I wanted to be able to expose the rest of the world to Mardi Gras Indian music and culture and second line culture and brass band culture,” he said. “Maybe inspire more people to appreciate it and delve in further and check it out and realize that it’s one of the most important genres of music and really one of the first original American musical art forms or genres because it predated jazz and goes all the way back to the 19th century.”
The band’s debut album is Funk ‘N’ Feathers, a recording effort that was like lightning in a bottle, Gelini said. They entered the studio and had a tough time with writer’s block. After a rocky start on day one, they returned for day two and knocked out 75 percent of the album. Most of the songs were captured in their first or second takes.
“We sort of ferociously attacked laying down these tracks,” he said. “There’s a lot of emotion in those tracks. When I go back to hear it, I really hear how it’s almost like as a band we were trying to establish our voice, and there’s so many different influences that are included in that voice that, at first, it was a little bit overwhelming. And then we got to this point where it just was like synergy. It all came together.”
That album features such songs as “Injuns, Here They Come,” “Ooah Na Ney,” “All on a Mardi Gras Day” and “Li’l Liza Jane.” The energy and danceable beats are obvious, especially on fast-paced tunes like “Jock-A-Mo” and “Cha Wa Got Fiya.”
The key to the band’s success is having the members realize they’re not part of a temporary group. Cha Wa is trying to make a permanent statement. “A lot of New Orleans is sort of famous for throwing together projects and collaborations because of the nature of the city,” Gelini said. “Up until Cha Wa, I was a sideman my entire career, so I totally understood what it was like to have to manage playing with multiple bands and different people. So the first requirement [for band members] really was to be able to have a love and appreciation for the music, for Mardi Gras Indian music, for brass band music, for New Orleans music in general. You can’t fake that. That’s got to be genuine.”
Right now, Gelini is especially proud of Cha Wa’s lineup. Other members include singer/percussionist Honey Banister, big chief of the Creole Wild West tribe, and Spy Boy J’Wan Boudreaux, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux’s grandson. On the album, listeners can also hear the musical efforts of John Fohl on guitar, Stephen Malinowski on organ, Yoshitaka “Z2” Tsuji on piano, Haruka Kikuchi on trombone and Norwood “Geechie” Johnson on bass drum and backing vocals.
The band first got its start when Gelini and Banister met at a Mardi Gras Indian practice rehearsal on Dryades Street. They recognized each other’s talents and started developing what would become Cha Wa. Today’s lineup is the most consistent for the band.
“We’ve really got a lot people on board that makes the music beyond my expectations,” Gelini said. “So, to be honest with you, we really just want to bring that energy and enthusiasm that we have playing the music just out to the rest of the country, including New Orleans, because I feel like as we develop our sound more and develop the energy of our show more, more people react to it. It just becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. It just keeps that positive reinforcement coming. It inspires people.”
He added: “Everybody is having a good time and letting it go. It’s very similar to a New Orleans second line. People don’t exactly know what to expect, and they show up. And they start parading and marching behind the band, and the next thing you know, you got people from all walks of life just dancing to this very infectious group. It’s probably people that might not mix in normal social situations because of how different they are, and it really brings everybody together.”
Gelini is not a native of New Orleans, but he’s been playing the drums since he was a child. Ever since high school, he felt he needed to have music in his life. He graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston and then moved to New Orleans, the epicenter of music.
“I mean some of the best drummers in the world live down here, and I’ve just been inspired by so many of them,” he said. “It’s really been quite a journey to come into something that’s really so organic and historical music-wise, so I feel very lucky to be able to be included in that.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Cha Wa are playing several dates in April, including this year’s French Quarter Fest. Check them out Thursday, April 6 at 12:35 p.m. on the Abita Beer Stage. Click here for more information.
