Jambalaya, Apple Pie, Chante Quelque Chose Oh Yé Yaille
through Music from the Early 1920s to the Late 1980s, reflects my research for my Master's thesis at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. I have approached the topic of an adapting Cajun culture by using music to show, or really hear in this case, the different influences that the culture has experienced and made its own in order to prove that the Cajun culture is ever evolving. However, researching and tracing all the different and possible influences on Cajun music from their arrival in Louisiana would have been a daunting task with the lack of sources dealing with Cajun history as a whole. Therefore I only traced the influences from the 1920s when Cajun music became commercialized in the music industry to the 1980s when the last significant adaption or influence has happened. The songs and artists discussed in this exhibit are those that have made their mark not just locally but nationally and internationally in top music charts and record sales of the twentieth century and also showcase the different sounds of Cajun music. It is by no means a complete or "official" list of major or influential Cajun musicians or their music through this time.
This online exhibit exists to share the various styles of Cajun music and encompass the research of this topic in a public space. I hope this online exhibit will provide one an unforgettable experience in its interaction with sound and memory about a timeless genre of music or take one down memory lane.
Thank you!
Rachel Blomquist
Some background on the title "Jambalaya, Apple Pie, Chante Quelque Chose Oh Yé Yaille." The first two words Jambalaya, Apple Pie are a play on the song " Jambalaya (on the Bayou)" (popular cover by Hank Williams) but I changed "crawfish pie" to "apple pie" as the exhibit talks a lot about how American pop culture influenced Cajun culture. As for the second half of the phrase Chante Quelque Chose roughly translates from French to "sing something" or "sing me something" which refers to the main focus of the exhibit: Cajun music. The ending Oh Yé Yaille is another variation of the spelling "aiyee," which refers to the vocalizations of the shouts that can be heard in many traditional Cajun songs.
TIPS TO NAVIGATE:
To begin just press the button "Begin this Path...." here at the bottom of the text that is in blue. If the page titles are blocked in the color blue then that is next page of the path. If it is not, then the page clicked is another page but not in the order presented in the table of contents. You can look at the table of contents any time by hovering your mouse (or finger) over the three lines in the top left corner, directly next to the title of the exhibit.
Sentences that have a roman numeral at the end indicate that there is an endnote. To access the endnote in-the-moment just click on the numerals and it will take you to the Endnotes page. Otherwise you can wait till the end of the exhibit to read the endnotes, in which the titles of each section are in blue meaning that if clicked upon you will be directed to that page.
Enjoy~