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Filmmaker Michael Murphy grew up in New Orleans, and some of his earliest memories involve the sweet sounds enveloping the Crescent City.

"I was little, like 4 or 5 years old, and it was time for my afternoon nap," Murphy said in an interview from Los Angeles. "I remember hearing the vendors walking down the streets and singing songs. And always at night time, usually around 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock, we'd have our windows open because we didn't have air-conditioning, and we'd always hear somebody playing a trumpet, somebody playing a piano."

Like many New Orleans residents, Murphy evacuated his home as Hurricane Katrina reached the city, driving 18 hours to Houston, where he abandoned his car and hopped on a plane to Los Angeles. There he could continue preparations for the release of "Make It Funky!: The Music That Took Over the World," a documentary tracing the history and far-reaching influence of New Orleans' native music that he's been working on for five years. The "Make It Funky!" DVD arrived in stores on Tuesday.

"The timeliness of it is somewhat bittersweet because it comes out exactly when this whole disaster happened," Murphy said. "At least the product is a cause, hopefully, for people to celebrate in the joys and music of the city and its culture.

"I truly believe the spirit of the city and its love of life as evidenced in its music, in its food and its architecture, I believe that's really going to help the city get back on its feet. And I'm glad I was able to capture a lot of that before this devastation happened."

Murphy's film combines footage of New Orleans funeral parades, neighborhoods and festivals, an all-star concert and interviews with legendary New Orleans musicians like the Neville Brothers, Allen Toussaint and Irma Thomas to tell the story of the city's incredible, multicultural music scene and rich history. He hasn't been able to return home yet, but from talking to friends and family and watching the news, Murphy knows some of the areas featured prominently in the film for their historical and cultural importance might never be the same.

The spirit of New Orleans' music community, though, remains strong, Toussaint said in an interview from New York City, where he ended up after taking a school bus to Baton Rouge and hopping on a plane just after the New Orleans levees gave way. The 67-year-old pianist and producer is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame thanks to his role in producing legendary New Orleans groups like the Meters and writing classic songs like "Working in a Coalmine" and "Ride Your Pony."

Toussaint planned on staying in New Orleans through Hurricane Katrina as he had through many other hurricanes in his life, but eventually had to leave his home for a hotel in the French Quarter before heading for New York. Now he's not sure what is left of his home. His neighborhood took quite a beating, he said, and "I lost everything in the most important part of my house, where my most important things are. I lost the Steinway and some things around it."

Even so, Toussaint can't wait to return home, and said the music community will be a vital part of the city's rebuilding process.

"The musicians I've talked with and the spirit of the music I know, the music community will be back just like before, and better. We'll have a new love for the city," Toussaint said.

Warren Haynes, leader of the jam-band Gov't Mule and a touring member of The Dead and The Allman Brothers Band, is one of the most history-savvy artists around, and his family lived in New Orleans before moving to North Carolina. Gov't Mule was touring in Europe when Katrina hit, and Haynes had to watch the devastation on CNN for days before he could get back to the states and find out if his New Orleans friends evacuated safely. The influence of New Orleans' music and culture reaches to all corners of America, he said.

"I've always had that musical connection with that town, and I guess to a certain extent, all musicians do because New Orleans is, musically speaking, the richest city in our nation," Haynes said. "There's more musical culture and heritage coming from New Orleans than from any other place. It's the birth of jazz, and the Mississippi Delta is the birth of the blues."

The music community has rallied around the cause of helping New Orleans recover through benefit concerts, but for the native musicians and music lovers displaced from their homes, nothing will soothe the soul more than going home and seeing some of their local favorites playing in clubs in the French Quarter again. Toussaint said he's ready to go back as soon as he's allowed: "I can't wait to get back and rebuild. I think it's going to be exciting."

Murphy has started listening to a lot of his old CDs of New Orleans music in the bungalow he rented in California, and making a lot of red beans and rice and gumbo. Talking to his friends and fellow evacuees, he's found he's not the only one yearning for a taste of home.

"There was a period of at least two weeks when Katrina was unfolding that was almost like a deep mourning, almost like we were in shock," Murphy said. "We'd get on the phone with each other and talk and exchange e-mails, and the closest way I can describe it is that it was what shell-shock must be like.

"Just getting back and cleaning up houses and cleaning up streets and meeting with other people, going out to see music - that's going to help mend a lot of broken hearts."