As a white Berklee College of Music graduate from Rhode Island, drummer Joe Gelini does not fit the typical Mardi Gras Indian profile. Historically, the music’s practitioners are black New Orleanians ...

Maybe it happened between performances in New Zealand. Or maybe it happened on the main stage at the Montreal Jazz Festival in front of 25,000 people. But somewhere on the road during the summer of ...

Cha Wa appeared on Monday morning’s (Feb. 1) edition of Good Morning America. The band appeared remotely from New Orleans, delivering a performance and sitting for an interview. Cha Wa’s performance ...

The Rumble, a newly formed band made up of former members Cha Wa, made their debut at New Orleans’ Maple Leaf on Wednesday, Feb. 3. The band is primed to continue a weekly residency through February ...

Cha Wa, the Mardi Gras Indian funk band, is on tour, set to hit the road from East to West, in support of the release of their critically acclaimed album My People. The album, released by Single Lock ...

Drummer Joe Gelini was playing with Big Chief Monk Boudreaux during Super Sunday 2010 when something caught his ear. “I heard this voice that was so commanding, this big, booming, rhythmic voice,” he ...

Cha Wa is a New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians band on the rise. Following the example of the late Big Chief Bo Dollis and the Wild Magnolias, the city’s famous, widely traveled Mardi Gras Indian musical ...

We had the pleasure of interviewing Cha Wa over Zoom video! GRAMMY-nominated band Cha Wa will return on April 2 with My People, a new collection that draws from the rich and vibrant street culture of ...