NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA– The Historic New Orleans Collection is a beautiful resource and companion to a city that bursts at the seams with music and history. During 2020’s pandemic, they offer quite a few stimulating tours virtually. One tour is all about the music! New Orleans Medley: Sounds of the City. This is also the first tour of the HNOC that utilitzes 3D viewer technology.

Eric Seiferth is the curator for this particular exhibit. It’s an exhibit that surrounds an ultimate question for any New Orleanian: If you were the producer of a celestial concert of New Orleans music, where the acts could be from any era, who would you choose to perform in the lineup?

The tour brilliantly covers the vat musical history of the city, from the contemporary way back to the beginning and Bienville. Along the way, you see an early video of the queen of New Orleans bounce music, Big Freedia. There is performance video of the late great Alen Toussaint. There is also artifacts and sheets of music from the Philharmonic. The first artifact is an early Chitimacha Native American turtle shell rattle, representing the earliest recorded musical procession in the city. A little further down the path and you see a lyrics sheet from an 1864 Emancipation Jubilee.

Each rooms, artifacts are time portals, where you can see snippets of concerts and interviews and listen to a jukebox full of sweet tune. To experience the music and this wondrous tour, click here.