"Shake Your Hips: Louisiana Blues"

Although Louisiana is most known musically for Cajun, zydeco, and, of course, jazz, its rich blues tradition often goes unnoticed, or worse, is ignored.  “Shake Your Hips: Louisiana Blues” is the first comprehensive museum exhibit that tells the complex story of Louisiana blues and sets it in the larger context of the American music tradition.

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The many forms of Louisiana blues have been shaped by and reflect the state’s geography, history, and regional differences in culture.  Blues from New Orleans has been and continues to be influenced by the city’s ultra rich jazz scene, while blues from southwest Louisiana gains influence from both zydeco and Cajun music styles.

“Shake Your Hips: Louisiana Blues” is jointly curated by Bob Santelli (curator of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the three Grammy museums and five other music museums as well as author of numerous books on music history) and David Kunian (New Orleans Jazz Museum curator and musicologist). This year’s exhibit  includes never-before-seen artifacts, multimedia displays and new interviews with Louisiana blues greats, in the process finally giving due to another great Louisiana music tradition.