New Orleans ahhh… hurricanes, alligators and the first place where the African and European music finally united.

But this part won’t be about the history it will be about one of the most interesting thing that came out of it. A New Orleans Jazz Funeral! Even if you’ve never been to NOLA you can see one of that in James Bond “Live and Let Die”. An old tradition that was later almost banned by the catholic church and is practiced now only by black protestants.

The procession is divided into two parts. First part is walk to the funeral when the marching jazz band performs slow and tragic jazz part (mostly the gospel song “Just a Closer Walk with Thee”) like saying goodbye to the deceased. The Second Part or also called the Second Line is walking away from the graveyard. In the Second Line the melody is changed to hot jazz, symbolizing a joy of the fact that the deceased now joined “A Better Life”.

Actually this is one of the most interesting traditions that I ever encountered.