Pick an event of any significance and you'll likely find that it has provided inspiration for a number of artists. When the event is as catastrophic as Hurricane Katrina and the location is a city as steeped in the arts as New Orleans it's no surprise that the flood of words, music and artwork that follows is deep and strong.
My particular interest is the music that has poured out of the city in the years after Katrina. The flavor of the music has changed over time as the impact of the event has been absorbed by the public. 2006 brought us songs from the immediate aftermath of the hurricane: the shell-shocked survivor of Beth Patterson's Hell Or High Water; bittersweet remembrance of things lost in Mark Adam Miller's Foundations Remains; and the rallying cry of Gary Hirstius' Rise Up! In 2007, as we struggled to come to grips with true extent of the tragedy we alternated between grief and hope, dueling emotions captured perfectly by Marc Cohn with Dance Back From The Grave. In 2008 the predominate emotion was anger: Sonny Landreth gave us Blue Tarp Blues and Dr. John delivered The City That Care Forgot, an entire album that drips with anger at what has happened to his beloved city.
So I was very excited to hear that Zachary Richard had released a new album this past April. He's one of my favorite Louisiana artists and Last Kiss is his first English language album in 15 years. When I saw a track titled The Levee Broke on the track listing I was very interested to hear his take on the hurricane aftermath.
The song deals with themes that occur again and again in Richard's music and essays: the continued failure to protect the Louisiana's coastal wetlands that form the state's hurricane buffer and the determination of people tied to a land and culture to hold firm even as they feel it slipping away from them. It's delivered with a matter of fact sadness brought from four years distance from the disaster. The chorus has a gospel feel that adds strength to the simple words "the levee broke".
As I listened, my first impression was that it was good, but it lacked the visceral impact that Katrina related music usually has. And then as the song was ending, the hammer dropped. With that gospel chorus repeating four syllables again and again there was a recitation of places where the levee broke, delivered with that matter of fact sadness:
The levee broke...
Way down in Plaquemine
The levee broke...
Way down in Lakeview
The levee broke...
Way over to the 9th Ward
The levee broke...
Way down in St. Bernard
The levee broke...
Way over in Gentilly
The levee broke...
Way down in Arabi
The levee broke...
Down in Pointe à la Hache
The levee broke...
Way down in Belle Chasse
The levee broke...
The levee broke...
Way down in New Orleans
There's a certain numbness to an event that develops over time as the scars start to heal. That matter of fact weariness fits perfectly with viewing the situation from several years afterward. It's the repetition that drives home the point that the weariness would mask.
The levee broke. I'm not surprised that the previous administration said that "there ain't nothing they could do". Their response was straight out of the Republican playbook: ignore the problem; blame the victims; exploit people's fears.
But now it's nearly four years later and we have a new administration.
The levee broke. What are we going to do about it?