The Annual Krewe Du Kanaval Festival has announced its 2020 lineup, featuring a headline appearance by indie rock band Arcade Fire, who’s married members Win Butler and Régine Chassagne co-founded with Ben Jaffe of Preservation Hall Jazz Band back in 2018. In addition to this headliner, the festival will also host Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Jillionaire and Pierre Kwenders among many other performers, who will perform at the Kanaval Ball on February 14th at the Mahalia Jackson Theater.
In a statement sent to Pitchfork, Chassagne stated:
“Krewe du Kanaval was created to honor New Orleans’ creole culture with its Haitian and Caribbean roots—a piece of this city’s history that is very important to me.” She continued, “Our Krewe hopes to join the amazing people of New Orleans carrying this torch and carve a place in the Carnival tradition to explicitly pay tribute to these roots.”
Chassagne is of Haitian heritage, whose parents emigrated from Haiti during the dictatorship of François Duvalier, before eventually settling in a suburb near Montreal, Canada. Her Haitian heritage was the subject of the Arcade Fire song “Haiti,” while Haitian influences were noted in albums such as the band’s acclaimed 2013 project Reflektor, and “Ann Ale! (Let’s Go!),” a song recorded by Butler and Chassagne which served as the theme for the fest’s inaugural event.
The band debuted a cover of the classic Disney song “Baby Mine,” which was originally featured on the Dumbo Soundtrack. They also debuted dancehall inspired song and video for the song “Peter Pan,”
Photo Credit: Sharon Alagna
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