DVD: Robert Mugge's New Orleans Music In Exile
Robert Mugge is a name you have probably never heard. It’s likely though, that if you like Jazz, Blues, Reggae. Zydeco, or Bluegrass (work with us here), you have seen one or more of his incredible music documentaries. Beginning in 1976 with George Crumb: Voice of the Whale, which featured a performance of Crumb’s Pulitzer prize winning piece, "Vox Balaenae for Three Masked Players”, Mugge has made close to 30 films that have examined music through people, place, and time. His subjects have included Sonny Rollins, Al Green, Gil Scott-Heron, Robert Johnson, and Irma Thomas, to name a few. Although it’s difficult to pin down an exact style, Mugge’s films are characterized by his willingness to allow the music and musicians to speak for themselves. Always well researched and informed, Mugge has an uncanny ability to make genuine connections with his subjects, ultimately leading to more candid interviews and deeper meaning in his work.
For Mugge, “music is a leaping off place for discussion of social issues, cultural issues, political issues, (and) even religious issues.” This ethos might explain why Mugge was so drawn to post-Katrina New Orleans. Having worked with many of the musicians of New Orleans in some of his earlier films, Mugge sought to side-step the emotionally charged issues of government response and racism in the wake of Katrina, and focus on the storm’s devastating impact within the New Orleans music community. Where did the musicians go? Were they planning on coming back?
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