Big Chief Monk Boudreaux is one of the living masters of the Mardi Gras Indian tradition — a New Orleans cultural treasure whose decades of service as Big Chief of the Golden Eagles have made him one of the most respected figures in the city's African American community.
Biography
George Boudreaux has been masking as a Mardi Gras Indian since the 1960s, spending months each year creating the elaborate hand-sewn beaded suits that are the tradition's most visible expression, and leading his tribe through the streets of New Orleans on Mardi Gras morning and St. Joseph's Night. His recordings bring the Indian tradition — its call-and-response chants, its spiritual connection to African and Native American cultures — into a contemporary context without diminishing its ceremonial power. He has collaborated with the Meters, Dr. John, and numerous other New Orleans musicians, and remains one of the most important culture-bearers in a city that takes its traditions seriously.
Discography
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