New Orleans

===Entertainment and performing arts===
{{Main|Music of New Orleans}}
[[File:MardiGrasCanalStreet1890sChartresGazebo.jpg|thumb|left|[[New Orleans Mardi Gras]] in the early 1890s]]
[[File:ToHorses.jpg|thumb|left|Mounted [[krewe]] officers in the Thoth Parade during [[Mardi Gras]]]]

The New Orleans area is home to numerous annual celebrations. The most well known is [[Carnival]], or [[New Orleans Mardi Gras|Mardi Gras]]. Carnival officially begins on the [[Epiphany (holiday)|Feast of the Epiphany]], also known in some Christian traditions as the "[[Twelfth Night (holiday)|Twelfth Night]]" of Christmas. ''Mardi Gras'' (French for "Fat Tuesday"), the final and grandest day of traditional Catholic festivities, is the last Tuesday before the [[Christianity|Christian]] liturgical season of [[Lent]], which commences on [[Ash Wednesday]].

The largest of the city's many music festivals is the [[New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival]]. Commonly referred to simply as "Jazz Fest", it is one of the nation's largest music festivals. The festival features a variety of music, including both native Louisiana and international artists. Along with Jazz Fest, New Orleans' [[Voodoo Experience]] ("Voodoo Fest") and the [[Essence Music Festival]] also feature local and international artists.

Other major festivals include [[Southern Decadence]], the French Quarter Festival, and the [[Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival]]. The American playwright lived and wrote in New Orleans early in his career, and set his play, ''[[Streetcar Named Desire]],'' there.

In 2002, Louisiana began offering tax incentives for film and television production. This has resulted in a substantial increase in activity and brought the nickname of "Hollywood South" for New Orleans. Films produced in and around the city include ''[[Ray (film)|Ray]]'', ''[[Runaway Jury]]'', ''[[The Pelican Brief (film)|The Pelican Brief]]'', ''[[Glory Road (film)|Glory Road]]'', ''[[All the King's Men (2006 film)|All the King's Men]]'', ''[[Deja Vu (2006 film)|Déjà Vu]]'', ''[[Last Holiday (2006 film)|Last Holiday]]'', ''[[The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (film)|The Curious Case of Benjamin Button]]'', ''[[12 Years a Slave (film)|12 Years a Slave]]'', and ''[[Project Power]]''. In 2006, work began on the Louisiana Film & Television studio complex, based in the [[Tremé]] neighborhood.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lafilm.org/media/index.cfm?id=835 |title=Treme film studio work begins |access-date=October 31, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080505082455/http://www.lafilm.org/media/index.cfm?id=835 |archive-date=May 5, 2008}}</ref> Louisiana began to offer similar tax incentives for music and theater productions in 2007, and some commentators began to refer to New Orleans as "Broadway South".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stories/wwl072007.html |title=Blanco okays Broadway South tax credit program |access-date=March 23, 2007}}{{dead link |date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

[[File:Louis Armstrong restored.jpg|thumb|[[Louis Armstrong]], famous New Orleans [[jazz]] musician]]The first theatre in New Orleans was the French-language [[Theatre de la Rue Saint Pierre]], which opened in 1792. The first opera in New Orleans was performed there in 1796. In the nineteenth century, the city was the home of two of America's most important venues for [[French opera]], the [[Théâtre d'Orléans]] and later the [[French Opera House]]. Today, opera is performed by the [[New Orleans Opera]]. The [[Marigny Opera House]] is home to the Marigny Opera Ballet and also hosts opera, jazz, and classical music performances.

[[File:Frank Ocean.jpg|thumb|[[Frank Ocean]] is a musician from New Orleans.]]

New Orleans has long been a significant center for music, showcasing its intertwined European, African and Latino American cultures. The city's unique musical heritage was born in its colonial and early American days from a unique blending of European musical instruments with African rhythms. As the only North American city to have allowed [[Slavery in the United States|slaves]] to gather in public and play their native music (largely in [[Congo Square]], now located within [[Louis Armstrong Park (New Orleans)|Louis Armstrong Park]]), New Orleans gave birth in the early 20th century to an epochal indigenous music: [[jazz]]. Soon, African American [[brass band]]s formed, beginning a century-long tradition. The Louis Armstrong Park area, near the French Quarter in [[Tremé]], contains the [[New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park]]. The city's music was later also significantly influenced by [[Acadiana]], home of [[Cajun music|Cajun]] and [[Zydeco]] music, and by [[blues|Delta blues]].

New Orleans' unique musical culture is on display in its traditional funerals. A spin on military funerals, New Orleans' traditional funerals feature sad music (mostly [[dirge]]s and [[hymn]]s) in processions on the way to the cemetery and happier music (hot jazz) on the way back. Until the 1990s, most locals preferred to call these "funerals with music". Visitors to the city have long dubbed them "[[jazz funeral]]s".

Much later in its musical development, New Orleans was home to a distinctive brand of [[rhythm and blues]] that contributed greatly to the growth of [[rock and roll]]. An example of the New Orleans' sound in the 1960s is the No. 1 U.S. hit "[[Chapel of Love]]" by [[the Dixie Cups]], a song which knocked [[the Beatles]] out of the top spot on the [[Billboard Hot 100]]. New Orleans became a hotbed for [[funk]] music in the 1960s and 1970s, and by the late 1980s, it had developed its own localized variant of [[hip hop music|hip hop]], called [[bounce music]]. While not commercially successful outside of the [[Deep South]], bounce music was immensely popular in poorer neighborhoods throughout the 1990s.

A cousin of bounce, [[southern hip hop|New Orleans hip hop]] achieved commercial success locally and internationally, producing [[Lil Wayne]], [[Master P]], [[Birdman (rapper)|Birdman]], [[Juvenile (rapper)|Juvenile]], [[Suicideboys]], [[Cash Money Records]] and [[No Limit Records]]. Additionally, the popularity of [[cowpunk]], a fast form of [[southern rock]], originated with the help of several local bands, such as [[The Radiators (US)|The Radiators]], [[Better Than Ezra]], [[Cowboy Mouth]] and [[Dash Rip Rock]]. Throughout the 1990s, many [[sludge metal]] bands started. New Orleans' [[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]] bands such as [[Eyehategod]],<ref name="AMG-Eyehategod">{{cite web |url={{AllMusic |class=artist |id=p38682/biography|pure_url=yes}} |title=Eyehategod |author=Huey, Steve |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=June 22, 2008}}</ref> [[Soilent Green]],<ref name="AMG-SoilentGreen">{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p206627/biography |title=Soilent Green |author=York, William |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=June 22, 2008 |archive-date=January 10, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240110085307/https://www.allmusic.com/artist/soilent-green-mn0000754513#biography |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Crowbar (US band)|Crowbar]],<ref name="AMG-Crowbar">{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p12635/biography |title=Crowbar |author=Huey, Steve |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=June 22, 2008 |archive-date=January 10, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240110085413/https://www.allmusic.com/artist/crowbar-mn0000109421#biography |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Down (band)|Down]] incorporated styles such as [[hardcore punk]],<ref name="AMG-Down">{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p168208/biography |title=Down |author=Prato, Greg |website=Allmusic |access-date=June 22, 2008 |archive-date=January 10, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240110085414/https://www.allmusic.com/artist/down-mn0000169189#biography |url-status=live }}</ref> [[doom metal]], and southern rock to create an original and heady brew of swampy and aggravated metal that has largely avoided standardization.<ref name="AMG-Eyehategod"/><ref name="AMG-SoilentGreen"/><ref name="AMG-Crowbar"/><ref name="AMG-Down"/>

New Orleans is the southern terminus of the famed [[U.S. Route 61|Highway 61]], made musically famous by musician [[Bob Dylan]] in his song, "[[Highway 61 Revisited]]".