Second line

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Second line is a tradition in brass band parades in New Orleans, Louisiana. The term is also used for an associated traditional dance style.

Music is an important part of most public events in traditional New Orleans culture. Processions with music include the periodic parades of benevolent societies, social aid & pleasure clubs, such as Zulu, other Carnival krewes, and of course the famous funerals with music, often called "jazz funerals".

The "first line" of a funeral consisted of the people who were an integral part of the ceremony, such as the members of the club or krewe, or family and friends of the deceased. The "second line" originally referred to people who were attracted to the music. Traditionally such people would follow behind the "first line." (In the final decades of the 20th century it became more common for some such onlookers who joined the procession to mix in or even get ahead of the band and first line, behavior considered a social faux pas by older New Orleanians.)

To follow such processions because one enjoyed the music came to be known as to "second line" or to be "second lining." As music is traditionally participatory, not something one listens to without moving, uninhibited dancing at processions also came to be called second lining.

The magazine of the New Orleans Jazz Club "The Second Line" took its name from the tradition in 1949.

Today, "second line" types of dances are held independently of funerals. Examples of modern uses include: at convention dinners held in New Orleans, during the Governor Kathleen Blanco's inauguration ball in 2004, and as part of Tulane University's annual graduation ceremonies.