New Orleans All Star Brass Band Regales Doha Audience

Qatar - November 22, 2005

Doha -- New Orleans came to Doha last night when a brass band of veteran Louisiana musicians gave a rousing performance to an enthusiastic crowd at the Qatar National Theater.

The eight-member New Orleans All Star Brass Band, composed entirely of native-born New Orleans musicians, was sponsored by the U. S. Embassy in Doha in cooperation with Qatar’s National Council for Culture, Art and Heritage. In remarks before the performance, Chase Untermeyer, U.S. Ambassador to Qatar, welcomed participants and noted that the purpose of the performance, which is one in a series taking place in the Middle East, was to thank the Government and people of Qatar for Qatar’s generous donation of $100 million to the relief efforts following the devastation in August of Hurricane Katrina.

The newly-renovated National Theater provided the perfect venue for the sterling performance of New Orleans jazz, which included renditions of favorites such as Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans” and “What A Wonderful World” and When the Saints Go Marching In.The foot-tapping melodies and rousing rhythms had the audience on its feet for much of the concert and calls for an encore ended with an impromptu audience dance session on stage. During the performance, the musicians expressed their personal thanks, as citizens of New Orleans, to Qatar and to all those who supported and continued to support the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The musicians, who were all based in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina, are themselves survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Mervin Campbell had to evacuate a hospital in New Orleans with his newborn baby, the day after the mother gave birth; and Jeffrey Hills carried his two young children on his shoulders as his house started flooding and spent a couple of days in the Superdome. There are also stories of hope; Kevin ODay and his fiancé were married the weekend after the Hurricane after they realized they had lost everything but each other.

The members of the band include Rasheed Ali Akbar (tenor saxophone), Lionel Batiste, Jr. (bass drum), Mervin Campbell (trumpet, vocals), Corey Henry (trombone), Jeffrey Hills (tuba), Charles Joseph (trombone), Kevin O’Day (snare drum), Eric Traub (tenor saxophone).

The New Orleans All Star Brass Band came to Doha following performances in Dakar, Rabat, Casablanca, Cairo and Alexandria, and are proceeding to Kuwait before returning home to the United States.