Festivals Acadiens is a three day party celebrating Cajun life and its influences and roots. Actually it is a collection of events that features:
Friday: Kids Alive (with Mouton Noir) and Downtown Alive (with Bruce Daigrepont and Dwayne Dopsie - free music events held in Parc Sans Souci)
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1Saturday and Sunday: The Festival de Musique
Acadiens, this year dedicated to Adam Hebert (photo above),
with two music stages
- the Main Stage - emceed by Barry Ancelet, and
featuring a wide variety of musical styles, including
Wayne Toups, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, Balfa
Toujours, Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie,
Charivari, Ray Abshire, Paul Daigle, Jambalaya, Jason
Frey, Kevin Naquin, Richard LeBouef, Tony Thibodeaux
& Robert Jardell),
• the Heritage Pavilion emceed by Chef Pat Mould, and featuring a fascinating program: a Creole Music Workshop with Dextor Ardoin, Cory Ledet, Joe Hall, Cedric Watson, James Adams, Edward Poullard and Mitch Reed, the Traiteurs with Sonny Landreth & Al Berard, the Frank Family Band with Preston & Keith Frank plus their ' adapted' son Kevin Wimmer on fiddle, Feu Follett, Lucky Playboys, Marc & Ann Savoy, Lil Nathan, The Bluerunners, Lafayette Rhythm Devils, Jude Moreau, & Roddie Romero.
• the Louisiana Folk Roots tent with all day Cajun & Creole Jams going on
• the Louisiana Crafts Fair
• & the Bayou Food Festival.
Louisiana Folk Roots jam tent
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When I first started attending this festival, in 1994, I thought of the long weekend as a 3 day dance-a-thon, and in fact it still can be that. If you were looking for a non-stop dance party, besides festival events (which started at 11am and ended at 7pm), there were lots of bands playing at the local clubs at night (this year you could see Steve Riley, Geno Delafose, Step Rideau, Feu Follett, Walter Mouton, Keith Frank, Terrance Simien, The Blue Runners, Terry & the Zydeco Bad Boys, and The Lucky Playboys among others) plus you could also attend Cafe des Amis' zydeco breakfast on Saturday morning.
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For myself, I have of late been particularly drawn to the Heritage Stage, where there is an attempt to put the music in context, add some conversation, and offer some interesting pairings of musicians. Highlights for me included:
The Traiteurs, with their special guests of Zachary Richard, Hadley Castille & Marce Lacouture. From the audience's reaction to their set, you would have thought you were at a rock concert... people were cheering and screaming in appreciation after every song. The Traiteurs were formed to raise money for a musical endowment at ULL in memory of local musician/physician Tommy Comeaux, who died in a tragic bicycling accident (Comeaux was a member of such seminal South Louisiana bands as Beausoleil, Basin Brothers, Clickin' Chickens and Coteau). With Sonny Landreth, Al Berard, Errol Verret, Tony Latiolais, Gary Newman, Danny Kimble (all major players in the Acadiana music scene), the Traiteurs don't rehearse, haven't recorded, and basically just jam and groove on traditional Cajun numbers with all their profits going towards the endowment fund. Most of the music is heads down jamming but when showman and elder statesman Hadley Castille got on stage to play, his ebullient personality and swinging fiddle put the young guys on notice and he stole the show. Other special guests during the set included Zachary Richard and Marce Lacouture.
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Creole Music Workshop.
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The Creole torch for fiddlers was verbally passed to Cedric Watson (photo-below) during this session. A young man from South Texas, Cedric was drawn to old style Creole music and with the help of his grandmother, who would tell him when he wasn't playing the songs correctly, and later the tutelage of Edward Pollard, he learned the Creole style. With a magnetic smile that lights up his face, a strong singing style, excellent fiddling for a young man, and palpable charisma, Cedric was hailed during this session as this generation's Canray Fontenot. Very big boots to fill - only time will tell if he lives up to these accolades.
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Adapted family member Kevin Wimmer played fiddle with the Frank Family band featuring Preston and Keith Frank. A musical highlight from this set was "Oh Mon"
Preston Frank
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I did tear myself away from the Heritage Stage to see Ray Abshire & Friends, Charivari, Balfa Toujours and Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys on the Main Stage. Ray Abshire (photo -right) first played at the very 1st Festival Acadiens in 1974 with the Balfa Brothers and it was moving to now see him now on stage leading a band consisting of some of the leading lights of the next generation of Cajun players: Courtney Granger and Kevin Wimmer (both of Balfa Toujours) and Louis and Andre Michot (of the Lost Bayou Ramblers). During their set, Balfa Toujours brought up festival honoree Adam Hebert to play a few songs: some of his compositions you've heard so often, you thought they had been around forever: including "La Point Aux Pins" and "Madeline". Finally Steve Riley (photo-left) and the Mamou Playboys (who have played every Festival Acadiens since its inception) put on a set that showcased songs from their new CD "Bon Reve". A large crowd of loyal fans danced in the warm rain and cheered them on.
Pasted Graphic 7I did tear myself away from the Heritage Stage to see Ray Abshire & Friends, Charivari, Balfa Toujours and Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys on the Main Stage. Ray Abshire (photo -above) first played at the very 1st Festival Acadiens in 1974 with the Balfa Brothers and it was moving to now see him now on stage leading a band consisting of some of the leading lights of the next generation of Cajun players: Courtney Granger and Kevin Wimmer (both of Balfa Toujours) and Louis and Andre Michot (of the Lost Bayou Ramblers). During their set, Balfa Toujours brought up festival honoree Adam Hebert to play a few songs: some of his compositions you've heard so often, you thought they had been around forever: including "La Point Aux Pins" and "Madeline". Finally Steve Riley (photo-below) and the Mamou Playboys (who have played every Festival Acadiens since its inception) put on a set that showcased songs from their new CD "Bon Reve". A large crowd of loyal fans danced in the warm rain and cheered them on.
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