Tuesday, April 11, 2017

A Tribute to Allen Touissant at the 2017 French Quarter Festival

In 1985, music legends Allen Toussaint and Aaron Neville brought together a group of New Orleans musicians to perform a concert that would benefit the hungry and homeless in the city. From that concert was born New Orleans Artists Against Hunger and Homelessness (NOAHH). Touissant frequently participated in fundraisers for the organization, often bringing in renown artists like Paul Simon. The organization developed into a successful nonprofit organization that annually presents concerts and gala celebrity mixers to raise funds to help alleviate hunger and homelessness in the metro New Orleans area.

In 2013, NOAHH honored Touissant's achievements by celebrating his 75th birthday in a grand way.  Allen Touissant died two year's later in November 2015.

The Grammy Trustee Award recipient and inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall certainly made his mark both as as a great humanitarian and as an ambassasor for New Orleans and its music.

Shannon Powell, one of Touissant's close friends and a great New Orleans musician in his own right, took the opportunity to celebrate the musical contributions of this great icon of the Crescent City.  Here is a video of the tribute near the end of Powell's set at the French Quarter Festival in New Orleans in 2017

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