New Orleans, Katrina, and Bounce: A Conversation with Big Freedia

Zoom

Harvard Radcliffe Institute and the Harvard University Department of Music welcome the Queen of Bounce, Big Freedia, for a conversation about music, community, and strength in the face of climate change.

This program is the second in a pair of webinars to explore the impact and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on the musical traditions of New Orleans. In the 20^th anniversary year of the storm’s devastating landfall in southeast Louisiana, leading performers, artists, and scholars will share their perspectives on art, music, and justice in the context of climate change. How have the performers’ music, practice, and community changed over the last two decades? Can future climate crises be occasions for artistic growth, reimagined community, spurs to social action, and new forms of solidarity? What lessons can New Orleans and its ever-evolving music teach the world about resilience and renewal?

Big Freedia will be joined in conversation with Lauron J. Kehrer (Western Michigan University), a scholar of race, gender, and sexuality in American popular music and Loren Kajikawa (The George Washington University), a scholar of rap and hip-hop, as well as race, gender, and politics.

This program is cosponsored by the Harvard University Department of Music. Harvard Radcliffe Institute gratefully acknowledges the Ethel and David Jackson Fund for the Future Climate, which is supporting this event.

This event is free and open to all. Registration is required.

Speakers:
Big Freedia, hip-hop and Bounce artist; television personality; entrepreneur
Lauron J. Kehrer, associate professor of ethnomusicology and musicology, Irving S. Gilmore School of Music, Western Michigan University

Moderated by Loren Kajikawa, program head and associate professor of music, Corcoran School of the Arts & Design, The George Washington University

Bio: Known as the larger-than-life ambassador of New Orleans Bounce music, Big Freedia is a nationally recognized hip-hop artist, television personality, and cultural influencer. She has released four critically acclaimed albums, 3rd Ward Bounce (2018), Louder (2020), Big Diva Energy (2021), and her most recent, Central City (2023), which combines influences of old-school hip-hop, brass marching bands, and futuristic production from the likes of Mannie Fresh, BlaqNmilD, and Gold Glove. She has also appeared in numerous high-profile projects, including Beyoncé’s Grammy award-winning, “Break My Soul” and “Formation,” and on Drake’s “Nice For What.”

Big Freedia began her television career in 2013 with Fuse’s Big Freedia Bounces Back, released her memoir, Big Freedia: God Save The Queen Diva, in 2015, premiered a new television show, Big Freedia Means Business in 2023, and plans to open Hotel Freedia in New Orleans in 2025, while also developing her own line of cannabis, eyewear, and cosmetics.

In 2021, Big Freedia was included on Ebony’s Power 100 list. She has appeared on CBS This Morning, The Breakfast Club, The Problem with Jon Stewart, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Beat with Ari Melber, The Real, and more, and she was a host of 2021’s Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve. Known by her fans as the “Queen Diva,” Big Freedia is a loud and proud advocate for racial and gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights.