Cajun music’s most magical, unique aspect is how it creates joyous, raucous compositions from minimal instrumentation. Most Cajun bands consist, maybe, of a violin, an accordion, possibly a guitar, and not much more. Les Blank’s I Went to the Dance (J’ai Été Au Bal), which has received a glorious 5K restoration courtesy of Harrod Blank and Anthony Matt, encompasses an entire cultural tradition with notes, words, and dances. With an almost non-stop exhibition of different Cajun songs—some classic, others more obscure—as a backdrop to recounting the history of the region and its people, the director forms an inseparable bond between their lives and the music.
One interviewee discusses the inextricable connection between Cajuns and their music as being borne from the need to express themselves––their joys and sorrows, following a hard, long work week. The music, notable for its high-pitched, almost blues-like wailing vocals,...
One interviewee discusses the inextricable connection between Cajuns and their music as being borne from the need to express themselves––their joys and sorrows, following a hard, long work week. The music, notable for its high-pitched, almost blues-like wailing vocals,...
- 3/19/2021
- by Soham Gadre
- The Film Stage
Thirty years ago this month, Mary Chapin Carpenter released her 1990 album Shooting Straight in the Dark, a record that, up until “Shut Up and Kiss Me” in 1994, produced the Washington, D.C.-area songwriter’s highest charting single. The song was “Down at the Twist and Shout” and it helped introduce country-radio listeners to some authentically Cajun sounds thanks to a cameo by zydeco kings Beausoleil.
Carpenter wrote the irresistible dance song about her nights spent at an American Legion Hall in Bethesda, Maryland, where an eclectic array of bands would play every weekend.
Carpenter wrote the irresistible dance song about her nights spent at an American Legion Hall in Bethesda, Maryland, where an eclectic array of bands would play every weekend.
- 10/19/2020
- by Joseph Hudak
- Rollingstone.com
New Orleans -- Music fans poured through the gates at Friday's start of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, staking out spots to catch performances by The Beach Boys, Steel Pulse and Irma Thomas, who is performing a tribute to gospel great Mahalia Jackson.
At the Fais-Do-Do stage, the air filled with sounds of Cajun fiddles and spoons scraping across washboards as Goldman Thibodeaux & the Lawtell Playboys entertained the early-birds. His traditional Creole songs, some performed in French, kept Leona Gard of Metairie, La., dancing with a wide smile.
"They're a nice warm-up, before the faster music comes," said Gard, 65, as she danced a slow-zydeco step to Thibodeaux's engaging tunes.
Gard, who's been a fest-junkie since 1976, said Thibodeaux and the Playboys are one of the few groups that still offer an old-school sound not often heard.
"They set the pace for others like Geno Delafose," she said. "Come back...
At the Fais-Do-Do stage, the air filled with sounds of Cajun fiddles and spoons scraping across washboards as Goldman Thibodeaux & the Lawtell Playboys entertained the early-birds. His traditional Creole songs, some performed in French, kept Leona Gard of Metairie, La., dancing with a wide smile.
"They're a nice warm-up, before the faster music comes," said Gard, 65, as she danced a slow-zydeco step to Thibodeaux's engaging tunes.
Gard, who's been a fest-junkie since 1976, said Thibodeaux and the Playboys are one of the few groups that still offer an old-school sound not often heard.
"They set the pace for others like Geno Delafose," she said. "Come back...
- 4/29/2012
- by AP
- Huffington Post
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