Sonic Celebration in Mobile, Alabama’s Port City Secondliners and the Jukebox Brass Band
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jwpm.33051Keywords:
Secondline, alabama, carnival, brass band, Black musicAbstract
This article contributes to the exploration of contemporary popular brass music, focusing on its manifestations in the context of Mobile, Alabama. Through ethnographic research and musical analysis, it examines the multifaceted dimensions of Mobile’s Mardi Gras celebrations, particularly emphasizing the role of brass bands in shaping the festivities. The study delves into the Port City Secondliners (PCS), a majority Black social club, and their efforts to counter the dominant traditions of white Mardi Gras organizations by establishing more intracommunal celebrations for Black Mobilians since 2009. More broadly, through the music of the Jukebox Brass Band, the PCS facilitate sonic celebration by fostering musical repertoires that reflect their values and tastes, emphasizing local places of significance, and propelling intergenerationally developed Carnival traditions. Here I define sonic celebration as musically- driven modes of joy that reflect community values and activity. These modes of celebration rely upon Black popular musics (e.g., hip- hop) and help popularize brass traditions in culturally significant ways.
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