Listen to the first listening list

In class today we'll go over the whole business of coming into the classroom in the evenings and weekends to listen to music via iTunes on the computer there. Our first listening assignment is a collection of cajun and zydeco music, ranging from early recordings from the 1920's to fairly contemporary pieces.

As an assignment, write down three questions that this listening list raises for you and bring them to class Thursday, 31 Sep. These can be factual questions (if so, try to answer them as well - you can still use the question even if you find the answer) or more open ended questions that might be good discussion questions in class. Note that this works best if you can come to the classroom sometime between today's class and Thursday's class, so make sure you schedule a slot for that.

The playlist:

• Amede Ardoin and Dennis McGee - "Madame Atchen"
  
• Ardoin was a creole accordion player and McGee was a white fiddle player. Against the racial/social odds, they played together and made several recordings together in the late 1920's and 1930's. It's likely that Adroin was severely beaten (or killed - the stories differ quite a lot and the records are very spotty), perhaps for having the audacity to accept the offer white woman's handkerchief to wipe his face during a performance. This is from the excellent 4 CD collection American Roots Music, the companion set to a fine PBS series of the same name.
  
• Cleoma Breaux and Joe Falcon - "La Vieux Soulard Et Sa Femme"
  
• A great husband and wife team; these early recordings of theirs were extremely popular. This is from the great Anthology of American Folk Music edited by Harry Smith.
  
• Iry LeJeune with the Oklahoma Tornadoes - "Evangeline Special"
  
• Shows the development of the cajun style in the 40's and 50's, and it's just a ton of fun! His whoops and singing blow out the mic now and then, but we'll all cope.
  
• Dewey Balfa, Marc Savoy, and D. L. Menard - "J'ai Passé Devant Ta Porte"
  
• Dewey Balfa comes from a giant musical family in the cajun universe, and the Balfas were vital in the surge of national interest in cajun music and culture in the 1960's. Marc Savoy also comes from a long line of cajun musicians and is a master at both playing and building accordions. (I'd love one of his accordions, but they're a little too expensive for my wallet.) D. L. Menard is often called the Hank Williams of cajun music. The three of them recording together is just pretty darn cool.
  
• Beausoleil - "Hey Baby, Quoi Ca Dit?"
  
• A contemporary cajun band led by Michael Doucet. I saw these guys play at the Maple Leaf Bar in New Orleans back in the late 80's and people were dancing inside and all up and down the sidewalk; it was enormous fun. I love the amalgam of languages in this song, and only wish I could play accordion like this.
  
• Michael Doucet and Cajun Brew - "Wooly bully"
  
• There's a long tradition of cajun musicians covering popular (non-cajun) songs, and this is just another link in that chain.
  
• Clifton Chenier (the "King of the Zydeco") - "Zydeco cha cha"
  
• Truly one of the greats. His accordion playing, etc., really defined much of what we now call zydeco music, and it's just too much fun. I love the little crawfish bit at the end, so listen up!.
  
• Buckwheat Zydeco - "Think It Over One More Time"
  
• Played in Clifton's band for quite a while, and then went on to a very successful solo career. Here he combines his driving accordion with a seriously funky groove.
• The Flatlanders - "Jole Blon"
• This is actually a bunch of (non-cajun) guys from west Texas who were exploring "traditional" country in the late 60's/early 70's as a response to the increasingly smooth and heavily produced "Nashville sound" that dominated country music at the time. Here they're covering one of the classics of the cajun repertoire (Note their use of a saw in place of an accordion.) I've got a zillion other recordings of that song