1. "AYITI", Cyril and Gaynielle Neville. Cyril and Gaynielle visited Haiti with directorJonathan Demme and Sister Carol in 1989. Soon afterward the Neville Brothers recorded Yellow Moon with producer Danel Lanois. "Ayiti", its band of horns and its "tree-mendous" verve assembled in New Orleans during the mid-1990s, is one Ur moment for SUFC, Hear what the couple found. The song is perfromed by the Neville Brothers band at Farm Aid 1994.

​

​

​

7. "HAITI", Arcade Fire. Régine Chassagne, a founder of the band Arcade Fire with her husband Win Butler, is Haitian. Her parents left Haiti in 1964 during the regime of Ferdinand "Papa Doc" Duvalier; relatives of hers in the insurgent organization Young Haiti were executed or otherwise "disappeared." Régine has said that shewrote "Haiti" from dreams. The song is on the band's first full-length album,

Funeral, 2004. Read its lyrics as you hear it. Régine, Win, and others of Arcade Fire empower thje eye-popping steps forward by rural Haitians through the KANPE (Kanpé means "Stand up" in Haitian Kréyol) Foundation.

​

​

​

3. "BLACK WOMAN". Fred Anderson and Hamid Drake. Hamid--born Henry Lawrence Drake in 1955--moved from Monroe, Louisiana to Chicago at age six. Saxophonist Fred Anderson became a mentor to him. Together they were mainstays of Fred's club the Velvet Lounge. They and Kidd Jordan and William Parker collaborated on the album Two Days In April.

​

​

​

​

8. "I WAS DANCING IN THE LESBIAN BAR". Jonathan Richman and Nicole Montalbano and Don Paul have been friends since Matt Gonzalez's campaign for Mayor of San Francisco in 2003. Jonathan and drummer Tommy Larkins have contributed to Rebuild Green and to the Wesley United Digital Arts & Training Center in New Orleans as well as SUFC. Here he performs " ... Lesbian Bar" on the --Conan O'Brian-- latenight TV show and then sings "Just Because I'm Irish" in a fair brogue with Julia Sweeney. Conan visited the real Haiti in January 2018 and met very bright children.

​

​

​

4. "CROSSROADS / RAGA BILAVEL". Urna recorded their album Journey To The Beloved in June 1995 in Oakland, CA. The group's principals are singers Ustad Salamat Ali Kahn and Ustad Shafqat Ali Khan and Dhyani Dharma on guitar and

Glenn Spearman on tenor saxophone. The album's concept is to follow the East's and Sufi's journey of steps to a corporeal and spiritual beloved while integrating elements of at least Robert Johnson's "Crossroads", then Billie Holliday's "Solitude", then Bob Marley's "Redemption Song".

​

​

​

2. "ANGEL FROM MONTGOMERY". Bonnie Raitt performed John Prine's "Angel ..." and Skip James "Devil Got My Woman" at the 2019 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, solo with guitar, as part of her superb band's set. Bonnie was magnificent in that set; she touched the ages. Later she performed "Angel ..." on Stephen Colbert's late-night TV show.

​

​

​

7. "ST. JAMES INFIRMARY" . Alex de Grassi released Now and Then: Folk Songs for the 21st Century in 2003. In 2010 he recorded the linked version live for Fingerpicking.net. Alex and Don Paul became friends through a benefit for Art Center Ukiak in 2011 and through Frey Vineyards. They perform with Hamid Drake as The GALLOP Trio.

​

​

​

8. "FINALLY MOVING". Pretty Lights (Derek Vincent Smith)

connected with SUFC in Spring 2014. He was then launching

an ambitious double-album (a double-album in the 21st

century!) that worked with many excellent New Orleans'

musicians, such as Mario Abney, Brian Coogan, and Ben Jaffe. That double-album is A Color Map Of The Sun. A fine

profile of Derek by Sam D'Arcangelo in Offbeat is here.

​

​

​

9. "TAKE THE COLTRANE". William Parke, author, bassist, composer, and organizer, leads the great bands In Order to

Survive, Raining on the Moon, Stan's Hat Flapping in the Rain, and more. He's among the most prolific, creative musicians

alive. He and Patricia Nicholson Parker present the annual Vision Festival in New York City. William has painted drumheads for SUFC. Soloing on this track from the live album Essences of Ellington, recorded in Milano, is William's

longtime colleague and our friend Kidd Jordan. Yon can hear

three Hours with William in the 'Spiritual as Music' series.

​

​

10. "AVE MARIA / HYMME DE LA GRACE". Boukman Eksperyans

is 40 years strong. Begun by Lolo and Manze Beaubrun during the second Duvalier's regime in Haiti as a hybrid of

the Vodun revolutionary Boukman, circa 1791. and Jimi Hendrix's transformational effects, circa 1970, Boukman has toured the world many times and charged up audiences at every stop. "Ave Marie Hymme A La Grace" is from their 2018 album Isit a Kounyea La (Here and Now in Haitian Kreyol).

​

​

​

​

​

​

​