New Orleans: The City That Invented American Music

New Orleans was founded by the French in 1718 at a bend in the Mississippi River, 160 kilometres from the Gulf of Mexico, and its history as a French, then Spanish, then American city — combined with the presence of a large enslaved African population and, later, waves of Irish, Italian, and Caribbean immigrants — created a culture of extraordinary richness and originality. The city gave the world jazz, the blues, zydeco, and the second line parade; it invented the cocktail, the po'boy sandwich, and the beignet; and its Mardi Gras celebration is one of the great festivals of the world.

The French Quarter — the Vieux Carré — is the oldest neighbourhood in New Orleans, a grid of streets laid out in 1722 that has survived the fires, floods, and hurricanes that have repeatedly devastated the rest of the city. The iron-lace balconies, the courtyards hidden behind shuttered facades, and the smell of chicory coffee and pralines that drifts from the open doors of the cafés create an atmosphere that is unlike any other American city. Bourbon Street, the most famous street in the Quarter, is the raucous tourist heart of the neighbourhood; Frenchmen Street, in the adjacent Marigny district, is where the locals go to hear live music.

The music of New Orleans is the city's greatest gift to the world. Jazz was born here in the late 19th century from the fusion of African rhythms, European harmonies, and the blues of the Mississippi Delta, and the city's musical tradition has continued to evolve through the 20th and 21st centuries. The Preservation Hall, in the French Quarter, has been presenting traditional New Orleans jazz since 1961 and remains one of the finest venues in the city for hearing the music in its original context. The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, held in late April and early May, is one of the greatest music festivals in the world, drawing 400,000 visitors over two weekends.

The cuisine of New Orleans is one of the great regional food traditions of America — a synthesis of French, Spanish, African, and Native American cooking that has produced dishes of extraordinary complexity and flavour. Gumbo — a thick stew of okra, seafood or meat, and the holy trinity of onion, celery, and bell pepper, thickened with a dark roux — is the signature dish of the city. Jambalaya, red beans and rice, crawfish étouffée, and the muffuletta sandwich are other essential dishes. The beignets of Café Du Monde, served with powdered sugar and café au lait, are the quintessential New Orleans breakfast.

Mardi Gras — Fat Tuesday — is the culmination of the Carnival season that begins on Epiphany (January 6) and ends on the day before Ash Wednesday. The parades that roll through the streets of New Orleans in the weeks before Mardi Gras are organised by krewes — private social clubs that have been organising Carnival celebrations since the 19th century — and the largest parades, such as Bacchus and Endymion, can stretch for miles and involve hundreds of floats. The tradition of throwing beads, doubloons, and other trinkets from the floats to the crowds on the street is one of the most joyful rituals in American popular culture.

Hurricane Katrina, which struck New Orleans on August 29, 2005, was the most destructive natural disaster in American history — the storm surge breached the levees that protected the city from the surrounding water, flooding 80 percent of the city and killing over 1,800 people. The Lower Ninth Ward, one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the city, was among the most severely affected, and the recovery has been slow and uneven. The city's population, which was 484,000 before Katrina, had recovered to around 383,000 by 2020. The resilience of the city's culture — the music, the food, the festivals — in the face of this catastrophe is one of the most remarkable stories in American history.

The best time to visit New Orleans is in the spring (February-May), when the weather is warm but not yet oppressively hot and humid, and the city's festival calendar is at its most active. The Mardi Gras season, from January to early March, is the most spectacular time to visit, but the city is extremely crowded and accommodation prices are at their highest. The summer months from June to September are hot, humid, and the peak of the hurricane season — the heat and humidity can be debilitating, but the city is less crowded and the music scene is as active as ever. The autumn months of October and November offer pleasant weather and the French Quarter Festival in October.