The Acts of Revival for Cajun Music: The Contemporary Era
Some French-Cajun radio stations of the 1970s were: KLVI Beaumont, KPAC Port Arthur, KJEF Jennings, KLEB Golden Meadow, KTIB Thibodaux, KHOM Houma, KVPI Ville Platte, KSIG Crowley, WYNK Baton Rouge, KSLO Opelousas, and KLCL Lake Charles.[ii]
As for television, there had been a handful of programs shown throughout the 1960s, but not many managed to make it into the next decade. The city of Lafayette however was a hubbub of activity in the revival of Cajun culture and used their range of TV viewers to host Cajun programs like KLFY-TV 10’s morning show “Passe Partout” and KADN-TV 15’s “Laissez Le Bon Temps Rouler” by Aldus Roger & the Lafayette Playboys that featured live shows, talk shows, the weather, local information, and spaces in-between each segment for young artists to showcase themselves.[iii]
Portrayals of Cajuns even made it onto the big screen in movies such as Belizaire the Cajun (1986),
that told the story of a man saving his town, and was based on a Louisiana traiteur (healer) from the nineteenth century. Other movies were Hard Times (1975), Southern Comfort (1981), and No Mercy (1986), even if the depictions in these movies were of backward, swamp-dwellers.[iv]
A new generation was now replacing Nathan Abshire's, Dewey Balfa's and Dennis McGee's place in what is now considered Contemporary Cajun music through famous artists like Zachary Richard, Michael Doucet avec Beausoleil, and Wayne Toups.
Many followed Balfa’s style of taking Cajun music classics and revitalizing them as festival pieces to be enjoyed by all, not just in Louisiana. Still paying respects to the Cajun-French, musicians like Michael Doucet and Wayne Toups, carefully pick past Cajun traditions to highlight in their music but give the tunes a rock style or a current popular music style to reach younger generations.[v] However there are only so many songs that can be sung in the Cajun repertoire and to continue selling albums, many artists have turned to composing original content.
Wayne Toups has held his top spot in Contemporary Cajun music since the mid-1980s and as the face of present day Cajun music, is the affectionately nicknamed, “Le Boss.” Toups is known for his blending of rock, R&B, Zydeco, and Cajun into a style he has dubbed "Zydecajun."[vi]Switching between English and French lyrics, his band uses his instrument of choice, the accordion, but also electronic pianos, bass guitars, and drums and depending on the song will omit steel guitars and the fiddle from the lineup. Nonetheless this does not stop him from making his own versions of traditional Cajun classics and continue to influence young, budding musicians.
His music has been featured in various media formats, including the movies Dirty Rice and Steel Magnolias and television shows. He has also won numerous awards, most notably the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Regional Roots Album with his CD The Band Courtboullion (2012), a collaboration with Steve Riley, Wilson Savoy and Eric Frey.[vii] The record is played with one of the traditional Cajun lineups of the accordion, fiddle, and guitar and is sung in French.
LISTEN: Toups’ most recognized song, mostly played at weddings is,"Take My Hand" (1995), sung in English with his Zydecajun band lineup of instruments.[viii]A testimony to the current era of Cajun music, Toups’ music displays the new style of merging the traditional Cajun sounds with current popular music.
When I look
At your face
You're still as pretty as an angel
But there's something out of place
What's wrong with you, baby
I don't understand
Is it just me
Or do you want another man
Take My Hand
Say you'll be true
Say those simple words
Oh, I love you, only you
Take My Hand
Oh, and hold it tight
Take My Hand
And everything will be alright
You still got the moves
That blow me away
And when you kiss me baby
I still don't know what to say
Deep down inside me
I know somethings wrong
I'm still a fool for you honey
Was I your fool all along
Take My Hand
Say you'll be true
Say those simple words
Oh, I love you, only you
Take My Hand
Oh, and hold it tight
Take My Hand
And everything will be alright
Yeah, Yeah
I got the feeling
That you want a new life
But I was hoping that someday
Oh, you'd be my wife
I understand if you want someone new
I can just about imagine how long it would take
To get over you, Oh!
Take My Hand
Say you'll be true
Say those simple words
Oh, I love you, only you
Take My Hand
Oh, and hold it tight
Take My Hand
And everything will be alright
