Cajun Music: Alive and Well in Louisiana

by Ann Savoy

One of French Louisiana's most vital attractions is its music. Acadian music has undergone vast changes since arriving in Louisiana, to a large extent because those who play it today live so differently from earlier residents.

Today, we in Louisiana are fortunate to have living representatives of many of its various styles and states. A look at Cajun music and its development offers a glimpse in to Louisiana's different cultures, its fascinating history, and the variety which exists within a traditional culture.

One of the earliest forms of music in Louisiana was the unaccompanied ballad. All of Louisiana's immigrants brought ballads with them, and perhaps the traditions most resistant to innovation or change were those of Acadian settlers. These narrative songs provided a means to share love stories and humorous tales. Ballads were ritually sung at weddings and funerals, and sung informally for small groups of people at house parties as the food cooked and the young children played. Families who had certain songs associated with their names were asked to sing their songs on special occasions.

The fiddle was the first instrument commonly used in French Louisiana music, and the tradition of twin fiddles was a predecessor of the Cajun music heard today. Early music was usually played by two fiddles, one playing the melody while the other provided the [back-up part]. Twin fiddling traditions represent the music in its purest form, as it was brought to Louisiana with the early immigrants and before popular American tunes mingled with it. Early fiddlers' repertoires included old French and Canadian fiddle tunes, delicate reels and mazurkas.

Over time, the music changed as other instruments came to the prairie and were incorporated into its music. The diatonic accordian became enormously popular at the turn of the 20th century, creating a stylistic change in the rhythm and chording of Cajun tunes and in repertoire as well.

The accordion was attractive to prairie Cajun musicians for many reasons: it had a powerful sound, was almost indestructible, and could be played at a basic level fairly easily. Because of the diatonic accordion's limited chord capabilities, however, it was not always suited to the Acadian tunes, as it could play few very complex or minor key tunes. It did prove very adaptable to the popular American tunes that were coming to the southwestern prarie, and as early as1920, Joe and Cleoma Falcon were translating country and western tunes into French and playing them on accordion and guitar.

In time, the settings in which much of the music was played changed, too. Music was a central part of the social life of the early Cajuns, and music was played mainly in people's homes, at small gatherings, and fais do-do s. A few dancehalls began appearing in the late 1920s, and soon the dancehall was the primary place for hearing Cajun music.

As radio came into the prairies in Louisiana, outside or mainstream American influences were heard more and more frequently in the Cajun dancehalls. In this time period of roughly 1900-1928, dancehall bands were typically centered on the accordion, either alone or accompanied by one rhythm instrument, usually a fiddle or triangle. Beginning around 1928, Cajun bands began using the guitar as an accompaniement as well. This was a period of beautiful, heartfelt music, really the basis of Cajun music as it is known today.

In the early to mid 1930s, the accordion itself was pushed into the background by the popular stringbands of the time. Fiddles were joined by mandolins, pianos, and banjos playing a variety of music with a snappy swing beat strongly influenced by Western Swing of neighboring Texas.

Other changes came to the Cajun music scene with the stringbands. Luderin Darbone was a founding member of the Hackberry Ramblers, one of the earliest string bands. He recalls that they were the first band to perform standing up and the first band to amplify their music. Amplification alone was a big step into the modern world. Cajuns came to the dancehalls to hear loud music from applifiers powered by Model T Ford batteries. Today, the Hackberry Ramblers still perform with several of the original members.

After World War II, the accordion regained its popularity in Cajun music, in what could be called the second golden age of Cajun music. This era included accordionists like Iry LeJeune, Lawrence Walker, and Aldus Roger who filled the dancehalls with their beautiful and expressive songs of lonely sorrows. The influence of these great accordionists on Cajun music is still evident in the playing of musicians like Nonc Allie Young and many others who continue to perform their classic songs.

For Cajuns in the 1990s, the modern equivalent of a dancehall can be a church hall, a lounge, a dancehall, or a restaurant. Musicians playing Cajun music range from small, primarily young acoustic bands to full electric bands.

Since the 1940s, the standard band of the Cajun honky-tonks has consisted of an electric guitar and bass, and amplified accordion, an amplified fiddle, an electric steel guitar, and a set of drums. Walter Mouton and the Scott Playboys, who for many years have played every Saturday night at the Breaux Bridge dancehall "La Poussière," are an example of the dancehall sound which remains popular among many Cajuns today.

In the past decade, many young bands have begun playing Cajun music in a wide range of styles. Some have blended the sounds of modern popular music into their music, just as Joe and Cleoma Falcon introduced popular songs in to the Cajun music of the 1920s.

Among some of the other younger musicians, there has been a movement to bring back the old songs and the acoustic small band sound, proving that the more traditional styles are still vital. One such band which is gaining a large and varied following is Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys. Steve has studied the styles of his mentors, accordionist Marc Savoy and fiddler Dewey Balfa. He maintains the traditional style of playing accordion and fiddle which he loves and appreciates. Always joined by a top notch band that shares his belief that "quality plus tradition can't be improved upon," Steve Riley is a good example of the future of Cajun music.

Courtesy of Ann Savoy and the Louisiana Folklife Program. Ann Savoy is a musician - and a leading authority on Cajun music. She has written several books and dozens of articles, exclaiming Cajun music to be "alive and well."