SARAH QUINTANA

“These song lyrics came straight out of Yvette and Roger’s letters,” says New Orleans-based songwriter and recording artist Sarah Quintana of her latest project, Love Letters.

Given to Quintana and production company Piment Rouge courtesy of the Cuquemelle family, the letters document the relationship between Yvette and Roger, a young French couple separated by the German occupation of France during World War II.

“When we first read them, we wept,” Quintana says.

New Orleans’ Mélange Dance Theatre has been invited to perform its production of “Love Letters of World War II” at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., bringing the true stories of French and Louisiana Cajun military veterans to a national stage.

Originally inspired by one young French couple’s communique while separated during the German occupation, the piece has 22 dancers and a range of contemporary, ballet, modern jazz and musical theater styles.

While war devastates, love preserves. In a profoundly paradoxical way, some of the most enduring love stories have emerged during episodes of intense violence and conflict. On September 10, members of Metairie’s Mélange Dance Theatre will be in Washington, D.C. to present a performance of Love Letters of WWII at the Library of Congress, in partnership with the Veterans History Project.

Sarah Quintana and her band perform the title track from her new album, "Baby Don't."

Throughout a notable career as a New Orleans singer, songwriter and performer, Sarah Quintana has been firmly rooted in her hometown’s rich music tradition — but eager to playfully explore its boundaries and possibilities. Her two self-released full-length studio albums, live concert release and EPs brim with a blend of jazz, folk and rhythm and blues, and her new BABY DON’T (due out on March 28th) brings together an all-star lineup for an album inspired by Louisiana’s music and culture of the 50s and 60s.

“Baby Don’t” is Sarah Quintana’s Louisiana record.
 

“For a long time, I’ve been put in the New Orleans music category without that being my intention,” Quintana says. "I grew up here. My family's Cajun, and I sing in French and English," but she didn't consider her songwriting to fit in with what others may think when they hear the term "New Orleans music."

Throughout a notable career as a New Orleans singer, songwriter and performer, Sarah Quintana has been firmly rooted in her hometown’s rich music tradition — but eager to playfully explore its boundaries and possibilities. Her two self-released full-length studio albums, live concert release and EPs brim with a blend of jazz, folk and rhythm and blues, and her new BABY DON’T (due out on March 28th) brings together an all-star lineup for an album inspired by Louisiana’s music and culture of the 50s and 60s.

The young, New Orleans-born musician was a student in her junior year at Loyola University when Hurrican Katrina complicated matters. In a twist of good luck, Quintana had the chance to spend a year in the Netherlands instead of in the rebuilding city and off she went, landing in European jazz clubs and alongside French musicians who taught her about the music from her own homeland.

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“We worked hard to find that sound,” Sarah Quintana says of the hydro-sonicscape she explores with her Miss River Band. “It took us a few seasons to get to the thought of going into the studio. All the pieces came together when I met [musician/producer] Mark Bingham.

Nearly eight years ago, Sarah Quintana, a New Orleans singer-songwriter with a background in jazz and folk music, was splitting time between club gigs in France and street performances here at home.​​

AMY GOODMAN: “Almost Free” by Sarah Quintana, a New Orleans artist who was a pen pal with the late Herman Wallace, member of the Angola Three who was held in solitary confinement for more than 40 years. He died three days after his release from prison in Louisiana last October. In our next segment, we’ll talk more about the last member of the Angola Three, who could be freed today as early as this afternoon. Yes, this is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

The New Orleans-based, Haitian-American artist's previous album, Vari-Colored Songs, found her animating the words of Langston Hughes. On her latest, A Day For the Hunter, A Day For the Prey, she embellishes her vision of intertwined musical traditions, from Creole slave song to Haitian folk balladry and string band jazz. 

I play guitar and I have a background in jazz. And for the past three years I’ve been going singer-songwriter and making more creative music with a variety of medium.

My latest project is making music with water, and I have a lot of fun playing with other improvisers and bridging the gap between composed music and soundscapes with water.