New Orleans brass band-meets-Mardi Gras Indian outfit Cha Wa radiates the energy of the city’s street culture. “My People,” the band’s follow up to their Grammy-nominated album “Spyboy,” feels like pure joy, a distillation of generations of New Orleans expression. But it also never fails to remind us how hard-won that joy was and still is: not least in the tense, funky and explosive title track, with its declaration “My people, we’re still here.”

Brass Queens is an 8-piece brass band whose sound is deeply inspired by the music of New Orleans mixed with the flair of modern pop. Hailing from Brooklyn, NY, the Brass Queens features an all-female horn section with the goal of expanding the space for women in a male-dominated industry. Brass Queens has performed at the 2021 Met Gala, on Good Morning America, multiple appearances at Governor’s Ball Music Festival and Exit Zero Jazz Festival, Chanel No. 5’s 125th anniversary, and for notable clients including Saks Fifth Avenue, Tiffany & Co., Perrier, Instagram, New Balance, and many more.