Matt Sakakeeny's Roll With It ! Brass Bands

In Matt Sakakeeny’s Roll With It! Brass Bands in the Streets of New Orleans, he explores the brass band tradition through the lens of social justice. Along his exploration of the vibrant tradition that is engrained within New Orleans musical history a reoccurring theme surfaced: the “expediency of culture”. Through Sakakeeny’s portrayal of the tradition, the idea of making art for the purity of the art contrasts with that of art for the sake of the economy and the question arises of whether or not the second line is truly a part of the city or a regulated part of a larger dog and pony show put on for tourists. Despite New Orleans being known as cultural capital for the trifecta of fun: music, food, and architecture, the culture that it’s famous

New Orleans has a large cultural capital. The brass bands of new orleans have been a source of cultural capital for the city providing revenue for the surrounding businesses around one of their performances. However, because of the transculturation and the passing of brass bands from subculture into mainstream culture everyone except for the band/ social aid and pleasure clubs are compensated. “Difference patently, may produce profit in a wide variety of ways. But those who embody its essence are often too marginalized by it to control its potential market value” (Sakakeeny 77). Brass bands appeal is what attracts the customers especially historically being African American and male dominated. However, it is these marginalized identities that often times leading to the musicians being the last to earn their “share of the

The brass band tradition and other such cultural phenomenons are being tapped to bring industry to New Orleans. The issue with this is that often times the originators of this culture and the labor workers receive no economic compensation for their burdens. Commonly put “ the burdens of cutting costs and maximizing extraction are shared by all while the benefits accumulate at the top of the value chain” (Sakakeeny 87). The money remains at a high level, or government status while the musicians are exploited for the economy of art. Though Sakakeeny’s overarching theme was social justice which can typically be interpreted more in the aspects of structural violence and racism, the injustice that the brass band musicians and local cultural workers face is far deeper than just physical wounds inflicted by the police. The problem surrounds the culture, how New Orleans has come to treat the culture that put them on the map in a sense and how the monetization of art has decimated the fountain of “cultural oil” that New Orleans was spewing