Cha Wa

New Orleans brass band-meets-Mardi Gras Indian outfit Cha Wa radiates the energy of the city’s street culture. Twice-Grammy-nominated, the band’s last album ‘My People’ has been described as “pure joy, a distillation of generations of New Orleans expression.” Now, entering a new chapter, the band’s 2025 album ‘Rise Up’ sees the band coming into its own to make its most mature and accessible album yet.

“Mardi Gras Indian songs are inherently songs about freedom,” the band’s drummer Joe Gelini says. “And that struggle is as relevant today as it’s ever been.” Popmatters describes the band as "a grand gumbo of singing, intoxicating rhythms, and deep funk grooves that are impossible to resist.”