Inside Kingsway — a historic, gorgeous New Orleans residence that legendary producer Daniel Lanois turned into an idiosyncratic recording studio in the late ‘80s and ‘90s for Bob Dylan, U2, R.E.M., Emmylou Harris and others — Afro-Caribbean rhythms are vibrating and Vodou priestesses are singing.
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Although it’s loaded with instruments (and a Senegalese fertility bed for those in need), Kingsway is no longer a recording studio these days, but the sound of music still hits different in the house. Built in 1848, this French Quarter home reverberates with history, even when music isn’t filling its 12,000 square feet. (Depending on who you talk to, including a few rock stars who have refused to sleep there, it’s haunted—but then again, what historic house in New Orleans isn’t?) Thanks to Kingsway owner/hotelier Sean Cummings, a man with a deep love for the music, food and foibles of his city, Kingsway opened its wrought-iron gates on a rainy Friday night to Vodou practitioners, storytellers, priests and priestesses hailing from Haiti, Benin, Cuba, Congo, Martinique, Angola, Ghana and, of course, New Orleans. It’s the night before the third annual New Orleans International Vodou Day on Saturday (May 23), and the attendees are gathered to greet, eat, drink and mingle.
