The Acts of Revival for Cajun Music: The Cajun Culture and Music
Fighting the system and the civil rights movement led to resurgence for pride in one’s heritage or culture. To try to preserve traditional Cajun music, Alan Lomax, Ralph Rinzler, and fieldworkers of the Newport Folk Foundation sought Cajun musicians to play in the 1964 Newport Folk Festival.[ii] They invited the small band of Gladius Thibodeaux on accordion, Louis LeJeune singer, and last minute addition of Dewey Balfa on guitar to be apart of their national lineup of unamplified Cajun music at the festival.[iii]
Balfa recalled "I doubt that I had ever seen two hundred people at once. And in Newport, there were seventeen thousand . . . people who wouldn’t let us get off the stage.”[iv] After the standing ovations, Balfa in particular returned to South Louisiana with the intention of bringing traditional Cajun music back into the spotlight. Cajun music was soon no longer solely about translating English pop songs and imitating them but rather revisiting the old Cajun tunes.
Balfa’s efforts could not come soon enough as in the same year as his appearance at the Newport Festival new movements swept over America—“Beatlemania” and the “Nashville Sound."[v] The rock sounds of the Beatles became favorite tunes to dance to, as the Nashville Sound was the new genre of country music that was replacing the honky-tonk sounds to compete with rock’n’roll in the late 1950s. The rock sounds of the Beatles became favorite tunes to dance to as the Nashville Sound was the new genre of country music that was replacing the honky-tonk sounds to compete with rock’n’roll in the late 1950s.
The Beatles pushed out the Cajun rock n’ roll of swamp pop and R&B and thus many up-and-coming Cajun artists realized that to keep their audiences they needed to imitate this new style. While older generations of Cajun musicians looked to Nashville and merged their sounds of traditional Cajun music and swamp pop into the overall genre of country.[vi]
There was still a small demand, as Dewey Balfa saw, in what was called "roots music" that portrayed the folk music of the different cultures in America.[vii] Festivals began to pop up all over the country, particularly across the South, in order to preserve and spread a revival of these folk music and cultures.
Music festivals in general enhanced the channeling of art forms like Cajun music to broader national audiences without the worries of making and selling records.[viii] Balfa pursued this avenue with his family band, the Balfa Brothers, who recycled songs of the traditional Cajun music repertoire and sung lyrics solely in French.
The Balfa Brothers became ambassadors for traditional Cajun music who did various covers of past classics with a small dance tune twist.[ix] However, like their forefathers in commercialized Cajun music, they made the music their own by giving the older tunes new lyrics, and new titles, such as their song “Valse de Balfa (Balfa Waltz).”[x]
LISTEN: Dennis McGee is thought to have done the earliest recording of this tune under the name “La Valse Pénitentiaire.” The exact date of this early recording is unknown but it is thought to have been recorded between 1920 to 1930.
FRENCH: ENGLISH:
Quand j´ai parti de la maison, When I left the house,
J´avais fait mon idée. I had my idea.
J´étais parti pour te chercher, chère, I was gone to look for you, dear,
Ou mourir au bout de mon sang. Where to die at the end of my blood.
Quand j´ai arrivé à ta maison, When I got to your house,
J´en ai trouvé un autre avec toi. I found another one with you.
Ça, ça a cassé mon coeur, chère, That broke my heart, dear,
J´aime mieux mourir que voir ça. I’d rather die than see that.
Si j´aurais cinq jours dans ma vie, If I have five days in my life,
J´en donnerais trois dans les cinq I will give three in five
Pour passer les deux autres avec toi. To pass the two others with you.
J´amerais mourir dedans tes bras. I would die in your arms.
There was still a small demand, as Dewey Balfa saw, in what was called "roots music" that portrayed the folk music of the different cultures in America.[vii] Festivals began to pop up all over the country, particularly across the South, in order to preserve and spread a revival of these folk music and cultures.
Music festivals in general enhanced the channeling of art forms like Cajun music to broader national audiences without the worries of making and selling records.[viii] Balfa pursued this avenue with his family band, the Balfa Brothers, who recycled songs of the traditional Cajun music repertoire and sung lyrics solely in French.
The Balfa Brothers became ambassadors for traditional Cajun music who did various covers of past classics with a small dance tune twist.[ix] However, like their forefathers in commercialized Cajun music, they made the music their own by giving the older tunes new lyrics, and new titles, such as their song “Valse de Balfa (Balfa Waltz).”[x]
LISTEN: Dennis McGee is thought to have done the earliest recording of this tune under the name “La Valse Pénitentiaire.” The exact date of this early recording is unknown but it is thought to have been recorded between 1920 to 1930.
FRENCH: ENGLISH:
Quand j´ai parti de la maison, When I left the house,
J´avais fait mon idée. I had my idea.
J´étais parti pour te chercher, chère, I was gone to look for you, dear,
Ou mourir au bout de mon sang. Where to die at the end of my blood.
Quand j´ai arrivé à ta maison, When I got to your house,
J´en ai trouvé un autre avec toi. I found another one with you.
Ça, ça a cassé mon coeur, chère, That broke my heart, dear,
J´aime mieux mourir que voir ça. I’d rather die than see that.
Si j´aurais cinq jours dans ma vie, If I have five days in my life,
J´en donnerais trois dans les cinq I will give three in five
Pour passer les deux autres avec toi. To pass the two others with you.
J´amerais mourir dedans tes bras. I would die in your arms.
