Joe Gelini's New Orleans story started with a 1996 convention trip with his father, a skipped set of Berklee finals to catch Jazz Fest, and a life-changing encounter with the Wild Magnolias at their Handa Wanda's home base. Befriended by Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Gelini immersed himself in Mardi Gras Indian practice Uptown, second-lined on Mardi Gras Day and St. Joseph's Night, and eventually founded Cha Wa with vocalist Honey Banister — a band built, as he puts it, to expose the world to Mardi Gras Indian music, second-line culture and brass-band culture.
Cha Wa's albums — Funk 'n' Feathers (2016), the Grammy-nominated Spyboy (2018) and the Grammy-nominated My People (2021) — carry those street traditions into the 21st century with guests like Alvin Youngblood Hart and production from Galactic's Ben Ellman. As a drummer, writer and producer, Gelini has also worked with Bo Dollis Jr. & The Wild Magnolias, Tommy Malone, Colin Lake and Nation Beat.
Beyond the bandstand, Gelini serves as an advisor to the Louisiana Music Commission (appointed by Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser), an official ambassador for MusiCares and the Louisiana Music and Heritage Experience, and co-founder of the band Nu Groove. His collaborators read like a New Orleans honor roll: Irma Thomas, Dr. John, Cyril and Art Neville, John Boutté, James Andrews and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
