American  Music Legacy: The Cajun Tradition

Louisiana is home to the Cajun people, a vibrant culture that has managed to hold onto its identity for centuries despite the pressures of the modern world to abandon the past. You may already be familiar with Cajun food, music, and dance, all displaying strong, passionate tastes for living and accentuating the enjoyment of life, as the familiar expression “bon ton roulette!” says, “let the good times roll!” But you can’t fully appreciate the exuberance of the people until you know about their history.

Their ancestors were French settlers in the part of Canada we know today as Nova Scotia almost 400 years ago. They became acquainted with the indigenous people known as the Micmac, from whom they learned how to survive in the new terrain, and also gained a new outlook on life in which all people were considered equal, and power was awarded through merit, not inheritance. They formed their own separate identity naming their land “L’Acadie” from the Micmac word for “land of plenty” and became known themselves as “Les Acadiens.”  The political changes in the 150 years that followed resulted in almost 10,000 Acadians being imprisoned by the English, and then forcibly exiled from their land. Much hardship was endured in their attempts to find a new home. One of the few territories that accepted them was Louisiana, which was held by Spain at the time. By 1785 the last major group of Acadians had arrived. The French word "Acadiens" was eventually replaced with "Cadiens" and the English word "Acadians" became "Cajuns."  

The instruments in Cajun music include the fiddle, which is the oldest, the diatonic accordion that was introduced from Texas around 1840, the guitar that came even later and is used mostly as a rhythm instrument, and the triangle providing percussion. The singing, done in the old

Cajun French language, is one of the most inspiring sounds you’ll ever hear, and the combined instruments and vocals create irresistible dance music that has wiped away the worries of the hardy Cajuns for many years.

   As a result of the commercial success of pop music recordings since the 1950’s, the traditional ethnic music of many American subcultures has all but disappeared. In the early 1960's a fiddler named Dewey Balfa choose to take action and save his own culture’s music from extinction. Performing along with his brothers, he achieved international recognition and in doing so inspired the Cajun community to see what they had almost lost. He helped create the first “Festivals Acadiens" in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1974. This festival displayed Cajun music with a pride never before seen so clearly and helped to inspire a complete cultural revival. 

Today his daughter Christine, and her nephew, 18-year-old Courtney Granger, carry on Dewey’s dream. Their band Balfa Toujours, as well as many others tour festivals around the world, and produce records bringing Cajun music to an ever growing audience crossing geographic and cultural boundaries alike.

Courtney Granger