_2017-02-21-22-19-33.jpg "Secondline in Vieux Carre by Queen Hope Parker | Original Oil on Canvas")
This piece is an all-in-one New Orleans cultural piece. It exhibits our french quarter festival, food such as crawfish and beignets, second line music and dance, a famous landmark the St. Louis Cathedral, and of course its art. There are many paintings and photos of the St. Louis Cathedral, so I wanted to capture the spirit of the Cathedral while it's happy and festive grooving to the horns blowing into the skies.
Secondlines are a historical tradition in New Orleans that was rooted from Africa. During slavery African Americans were allowed to attend Congo Square on Sundays where they secretly practiced voodoo, played music and dance. Since the Creole African Americans passed as whites they were allowed to learn and play classical music and worked as musicians for whites. Once whites got an idea that they were indeed blacks they were banned and the creoles joined the other African Americans in Congo Square with their brass instruments. The mixture of African rhythm and classical music created the sound that we call today secondline/brass music.
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