Songlines in Louisiana
The Hurricane Choir

There are a number of threads which need to be researched and documented. Exactly how they tie together will emerge through the process of gathering the information, the sound grabs, meeting the people. The story (stories) that emerge will be manifold.

The central theme, around which all the others orbit, is the positive effect of music and particularly the power of the human voice, to open the heart, to enable survival through adversity and regeneration of Spirit, which in turn enables other possibilities.

There is growing interest in, and relevance to the study of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The psychiatric community is poised to work with the Hurricane Choir for a study on the effects of singing on this disorder. This provides another thread to follow and tie this into the narrative. We will interview key thinkers, psychiatrists, social workers etc, for general understanding of the big picture on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and tie these to the Hurricane experience and the choir.

The documentary will also follow the social reconstruction of New Orleans and other battered gulf cities. It will tell the story of disaster relief and community development through the stories of key workers in the field who are working with the Hurricane Choir as a tool for re-building social cohesion.

We intend to build as complete a picture as possible, of the many layers of the fabric of society that this hurricane has torn through. All these story threads will be tied to the rehearsals, the choir in progress, the emerging sound of people singing together, as a metaphor for the social and spiritual regeneration taking place.

The stories will be constructed with little or no third person narration. We will let the music and the people tell the story. Through sounds sampled around South Louisiana, we will build an aural picture of Louisiana’s unique culture and physical landscape as the backdrop for the story.

The audio material gathered will be more than enough to create at least several features and could be incorporated into many other stories. The interviews will also be photographed and there will be close collaboration between the film and radio documentary makers.