| | | Honorary Muses are chosen for having made a significant contribution to the New Orleans community in the area that the Muse represents. | |
| 2008 - Polymnia, Muse of Sacred Song - Marva Wright
Known as Louisiana's Blues Queen, "Marvelous Marva" is a gospel and soul powerhouse. . One of the most powerful voices in New Orleans Today. Versatile performer whose repertoire includes Pop, Blues, Gospel, Jazz and Soul. Star of New Orleans Jazzfest and a respected singer. Known in her home town as Bluesiana Mama and Internationally known as Louisiana's Queen of the Blues. Wright has collaborated with many talented musicians including Harry Connick Jr., Bobby McFerrin, Aaron Neville, Fats Domino, Lou Rawls, and Marcia Ball | |
| 2007 - Erato, the Muse of Poetry - Brenda Marie Osbey
Brenda Marie Osbey, the Poet Laureate of the State of Louisiana,A native of New Orleans, Brenda is the author of All Saints: New and Selected Poems (LSU Press, 1997), which received the 1998 American Book Award. She is the author also of Desperate Circumstance, Dangerous Woman (Story Line Press, 1991), In These Houses (Wesleyan University Press, 1988) and Ceremony for Minneconjoux (Callaloo Poetry Series, 1983; University Press of Virginia, 1985). |
| 2006 - Urania, the Muse of Astronomy - Becky Zaheri
Muse Becky Zaheri is the founder of the Katrina Krewe. The Katrina Krewe has organized over 1,000 volunteers to clean up the streets of New Orleans twice a week. Muses is proud to be able to honor one of our own members with a ride in the fabulous shoe float. |
| 2005 - Euterpe, the Muse of Music - Charmaine Neville
Charmaine began her career backing up the Neville Brothers and went on to perform with the Survivors, a band whose alumni list includes Harry Connick Jr. and Bobby McFerrin. Time Magazine named Charmaine Neville, the best pair of lungs [in New Orleans], and stated that her “delightful scat-singing and good-humored blues … had visitors dancing in the aisles at the Snug Harbor bar.” Her work has paid off - as one reviewer recently wrote, "Charmaine Neville is beginning to rival her father and uncles in terms of popularity in New Orleans." |
| 2004 - Thalia, the Muse of Comedy- Becky Allen
2003 - Terpsichore, the Muse of Dance- Maria Giacobbe
2002 - Clio, the Muse of History- Cherice Harrison-Nelson
| 
Dance, poetry,
rite, and music seem inseparably associated in the early history of
music in ancient Greece. In the Greek Cosmos, music is the sound of
"necessity" in the Cosmos, created by the Greek gods/goddesses to make
a certain order visible to us. Greek and the world on the Mediterranean
sea before them believed that music had a sacred value, as reflected in
numbers and ratios which makes music pleasing also corresponded to the
bigger cosmic picture. We are a reflection of the greater 'music of the
spheres', a harmony created by the relative distances and rates of
motions of the planets. This harmony was constantly present if only
people were sufficiently sensitive to attune themselves to it. For the
Greeks specifically, these ideas connected music to a higher order, one
which many believed that humanity should strive to be in tune.
For more visit carnaval.com/432/ or carnaval.com/music432/ | |
| The Nine Muses
| | The Muses are the Greek goddesses who preside over the arts and
sciences and inspire those who excel at these pursuits. Daughters of
Zeus, king of the gods, and Mnemosyne ("memory"), they were born at
Pieria at the foot of Mount Olympus. Their nurse, Eupheme, raised them
along with her son, Crotus the hunter, who was transported into the sky
as Sagittarius upon his death. Their name (akin to the Latin mens and
English mind) denotes 'memory' or 'a reminder', since in the earlier
times poets, having no books to read from, relied on their memories.
The Romans identified the Muses with certain obscure Italian
water-goddesses, the Camenae. The original number of muses and their names varies in
earlier times as their evolution blossomed in Greek mythology. At
first, three muses were worshipped on Mount Helicon in Boeotia: Melete
("meditation"), Mneme ("memory"), and Aoede ("song"). Another three
were worshipped at Delphi and their names represented the names of the
strings of a lyre: Nete, Mese, and Hypate. Several other versions were
worshipped until the Greeks finally established the nine muses in
mythology | 
| | Greek Name | Translation | Image | Goddess Of... | | Calliope | the 'beautiful of speech' |  | chief of the muses and muse of epic or heroic poetry | | Clio | the 'glorious one' |  | muse of history | | Erato | the 'amorous one' |  | muse of love or erotic poetry, lyrics, and marriage songs | | Euterpe | the 'well-pleasing' |  | muse of music and lyric poetry | | Melpomene | the 'chanting one' |  | muse of tragedy | | Polyhymnia or Polymnia | the '[singer] of many hymns' |  | muse of sacred song, oratory, lyric, singing and rhetoric | | Terpsichore | the '[one who] delights in dance' |  | muse of choral song and dance | | Thalia | the 'blossoming one' |  | muse of comedy and bucolic poetry | | Urania | the 'celestial one' | _01.jpg/75px-Urania_(M.A.N._Madrid)_01.jpg) | muse of astronomy | |
Culture of New Orleans, Louisiana |
Festivals in Louisiana |
Events affected by Hurricane Katrina
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