Krewe du Kanaval Returns Friday with Arcade Fire, Preservation Hall, Mia X and More

The krewe celebrates its third year of honoring the connection between New Orleans' Carnival and Haiti with parades, parties, and music that honors their shared Creole heritage.

Arcade Fire will headline the Krewe du Kavanal's third annual Kanaval Ball on Friday, February 14.  Arcade Fire's Win Butler and Régine Chassagne (whose family is of Haitian decent) formed the krewe with Ben Jaffe of Preservation Hall, and it debuted in 2018 with the goal of linking Carnival traditions with their roots in Haiti’s past.

“Krewe du Kanaval was created to honor New Orleans’ creole culture with its Haitian and Caribbean roots—a piece of this city's history that is very important to me,” said Chassagne. “Our Krewe hopes to join the amazing people of New Orleans carrying this torch and carve a place in the Carnival tradition to explicitly pay tribute to these roots.”

On Wednesday, the krewe announced its royalty. The Queen is New Orleans rapper Mia X, and the King is the Congo-born artist, teacher and healer Titos Sompa. 

Many of the events are members only, but the Kanaval Ball Friday night at the Mahalia Jackson Theater is open to the public and will feature performances by Arcade Fire, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Michael Brun, Jillionaire, Lakou Mizik, Pierre Kwenders and more. The krewe will parade on Saturday as part of the Krewe of Freret parade on the Uptown route. Parading is members only, but the public can see and experience Kanaval's energy and sensibility. This year's Freret parade will also include a Shorty Gras float featuring Trombone Shorty. 

For more information on Krewe du Kanaval, Krewe membership, and the Kanaval Ball, visit Kanaval.org.