Dancing pallbearers at Boyd Funeral Home

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Sharply-dressed employees of Boyd Funeral Home of Los Angeles. Photo by Avishay Artsy

In a tough part of South Los Angeles, where gang violence is commonplace and the homicide rate is high, Boyd Funeral Home is changing the way death is marked. Music blares from the hearse, and pallbearers dressed in top hats and tails dance the casket down the church aisle.

Freelance radio producer Kathy Tu recently went to a funeral service conducted by Boyd Funeral Home, and produced this piece for CBC Radio’s Day 6. It comes to us through KCRW’s Independent Producer Project.