2007年VOA标准英语-New Orleans Jazz Fest Celebrates City's Musical

By Greg Flakus
New Orleans, LA
27 April 2007
 

Nearly two years after Hurricane Katrina devastated¹ New Orleans, the city is showing signs of recovery and drawing visitors back to traditional events, like the annual Jazz and Heritage Festival. It runs on successive weekends -- April 27th to 29th and May fourth through May sixth.  Big names such as Harry² Connick, Jr., ZZ Top and John Mayer are on the schedule, but all kinds of music finds a place onstage at Jazz Fest.  As VOA's Greg Flakus reports from New Orleans, performers celebrate musical traditions that are firmly rooted in the Crescent City.

This is the city where jazz was born and many local jazz groups continue to play local clubs when they are not on tour. The Rebirth Brass³ Band has fans worldwide, but bandleader Phil Frazier says appearing at Jazz Fest is something special.

"It showcases our talent to the world. Even though we travel around the world, it is a good way for the world to come to us and see us on our own turf."

Jazz Fest organizers see the event as a great coming together of New Orleans music and cultural traditions with the wider world that is influenced by them. 

Don Marshall is the man putting it all together. "So many people come to the Jazz Festival from around the world. One of the exciting things is that it really connects our musicians with an international market,” he says. ”A lot of our groups get booked for European tours, record deals are signed, CDs are sold and we are really building a larger market for our musicians and our cultural economy."

Marshall is president of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Foundation. It uses money from the event to support a number of charitable causes in the city.

Preparations for the event begin weeks in advance at the racetrack site where tens of thousands of music fans will soon converge⁴ to hear music and sample local food. Don Marshall says putting together the infrastructure⁵ for such a huge gathering⁶ is a real challenge.

"Most people don't understand that when you are going to be producing an event that attracts approximately 50,000 people a day, that you are building a city," says Marshall.

And this city is full of music, night and day, from one corner to the other.

"We generally have about six major stages,” Marshall explains. “Traditionally, they focus on a certain genre⁷ of music. We have our Fais Do-Do [a country dance] stage, which is our Cajun, Zydeco area. We have our Congo square stage, which presents the best of African and Caribbean and African-American influences on our culture.  Our Acura stage where some of our really big-name entertainers will be performing."

Mary Beth Romig

Big name entertainers, some of whom have roots here, have been lending support to New Orleans and its recovery effort. New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau spokeswoman Mary Beth Romig says the support is much appreciated. "To have national celebrities⁸ embrace New Orleans, and tell the world how important New Orleans is, speaks volumes for us. We cannot put a dollar price on that kind of support."

She says Jazz Fest gives the city a badly needed morale⁹ boost. "This year, to see the kind of celebrity¹⁰ support that is coming out for Jazz Fest, first of all it says the music culture is important, it is alive and it needs to be cherished and nurtured¹¹.  That is so incredibly important. Then, just to have a big event and have people come and show their vote of confidence is an incredible statement for the city."

Another local group with an international reach is the Trombone Shorty Band, whose leader, Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, has been playing here since he was four years old. He says there is no place like New Orleans for music and Jazz Fest is the event where it is celebrated¹².

"New Orleans music is about feeling good and we try to create the joy and spread it out to the world and that is what I like about the city is that, even if you go check out traditional jazz, you find  people dancing and that is what we are about is making people feel good and just spreading our joy around the world."

 

1 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

2 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

3 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

4 converge   

vi.会合；聚集，集中；(思想、观点等)趋近

参考例句：

• The results converge towards this truth.其结果趋近于这个真理。
• Parallel lines converge at infinity.平行线永不相交。

5 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

6 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

7 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

8 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

9 morale   

n.道德准则，士气，斗志

参考例句：

• The morale of the enemy troops is sinking lower every day.敌军的士气日益低落。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

10 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

11 nurtured   

养育( nurture的过去式和过去分词 )； 培育； 滋长； 助长

参考例句：

• She is looking fondly at the plants he had nurtured. 她深情地看着他培育的植物。
• Any latter-day Einstein would still be spotted and nurtured. 任何一个未来的爱因斯坦都会被发现并受到培养。

12 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。