La Veillée

Episode 5 - Sunpie: Sustaining Creole Language, Culture & Music in New Orleans

Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes is a renowned culture bearer, naturalist, and musician in New Orleans who has developed his own style of Afro-Louisiana music, blending zydeco, blues, gospel, jazz, and African and Afro-Caribbean music. Sunpie also works to sustain the unique linguistic, cultural, and natural landscape of Louisiana, speaking Louisiana Creole fluently and serving as Big Chief of the North Side Skull and Bone Gang.

As is common in many Louisiana musical families, Bruce was first introduced to music by his family—inheriting the name “Sunpie” from his uncle. In turn, Bruce has passed on his musical, linguistic, and cultural heritage—and the “Sunpie” name—to his son Aurélien “Sunpie” Barnes, a thrice-Grammy-nominated musician and trumpetist for the Rumble.

In this episode of La Veillée, we speak to Sunpie and his son about what makes New Orleans music unique, how they have learned from their roots, and why they are so committed to carrying Louisiana traditions including our music and French and Creole languages into the future.

La Veillée is a 15-minute weekly French news magazine produced by Télé-Louisiane with LPB. It's the first television program produced entirely in Louisiana French and aired throughout the state in 30 years.

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