Maroon – On The Trail Of Creoles In North America
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B Documentary: B
As the
disaster that has happened to New Orleans takes
hold, more outrageous since it was totally manmade, a new DVD set has arrived
that does more than just remind us how vital the music of Louisiana is, but shows it in great
detail. Maroon is the longest of three programs about the rich culture of
music and art that has come out of the region and continues to do so, even in
the face of disaster. Major music
figures in the genre most people have not even hard of. Running 85 minutes, we learn more about The
Creoles than you would ever hear otherwise.
Produced
in Canada
(like the bonus materials) for TV, the shows are like journeys to a land that
has literally been swept away, but the makers treated the subject as that
fragile to begin with and they were right.
It makes compelling viewing to begin with, now carrying an added irony. The music is good, but you do not have to
even like the music to appreciate what was accomplished here.
The 1.33
x 1 image was shot on analog NTSC video and it shows, but it still does not
look bad for that, despite some minor digititis. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is simple at
best and both extend to the supplemental materials. This includes two shorts on DVD 1 under 5
minutes and each two more documentaries on the second DVD. Zarico
is a nearly hour-long look at Black Francophile Creole Folk Music, while Liberty Street Blues is a
77-minutes-long takes us to a street where the days of slavery can be traced
back to date, where yet another vital culture of music development can be
found. All in all, this is a very
informative DVD set worth your time.
- Nicholas Sheffo
