forging a link between Maafa and the
Essence Music Festival since the two
events annually occur on the same July
4 weekend. Essence magazine, along
with the festival, was acquired in 2018 by
Richelieu Dennis, a wealthy businessman
from Liberia and, according to Luther,
“He’s trying to turn Essence toward an
African focus and support a lot of African
initiatives.
“We’re trying to meet with him and partner
with Essence to assist in promoting
and participating in the Maafa commemoration
on the Saturday of the festival,”
Luther explained. “We share the same
ancestry so it would be nice if we can
connect with them and do something
cooperatively next year and beyond.”
As the father of two sons in their 20s and
a 39-year-old daughter, Luther has passed
along much of his knowledge and skills to
them. All three of them play drums, even
while following non-musical career paths.
“When they were real young they used
to ask me to take them to Congo Square
and I did,” Luther said. “Now they are all
grown up and they know all about the New
Orleans-African culture; the Indians, brass
bands, second lines, parades and all that.”
Luther is also proud to announce that
this year is Bamboula 2000’s 25th anniversary
and they released their latest CD
during this year’s JazzFest where they also
performed. The 11-track record, titled
“Cuba to Congo Square,” is a collaboration
between the band and David D’Omni, a
hip hop artist from Havana.
“This is our best work yet,” Luther
said, adding they are hopeful of getting
the CD to win or at least be nominated
for a Grammy Award in the World Music
category.
Overall, Luther sees the future of New
Orleans largely through the eyes and
experiences of the past. “I think of New
Orleans as a prophetic city,” he explained.
“We have the influences of all these different
cultures. I believe that jazz came out
of New Orleans for a reason. And one
of the reasons why it was able to evolve
was because they didn’t ban or outlaw
drum-playing by the slaves. So the culture
was able to grow and take on elements of
other types of music that evolved into jazz.
“Our culture is still as strong now as it
was before Katrina,” Luther continued.
“We were able to come out of the disaster
because of our long traditions within our
culture. So if we teach and understand
that history, we can save our culture over
the next 80-100 years, like jazz did a
hundred years ago.
“That’s my theory and I’m working real
hard to see if that theory can come true,”
Luther proudly concluded. ��
PHOTO COURTESY OF LUTHER GRAY
J U LY / AU G U S T 2 0 1 9 breakthrumediamagazine.com | BREAKTHRU MEDIA | 23
/breakthrumediamagazine.com
