OTHER FIDDLE STYLES:
Links:
- The origins of Zydeco and cajun music
- Cajun/Zydeco music and dance
- Gary Hayman's Zyde-magic
- Origins of Zydeco and Cajun music
- Cajunculture.com
- Cajun Music and dance in the UK
- Balfa Toujours
Cajun fiddle
Music for the dancefloor can be shallow and unadventurous, and when even the top performers are virtually all holding down day jobs, you might expect to rank cajun music as a poor cousin to its slick neighbours such as bluegrass and Western Swing. Technically unsophisticated it may be, but cajun music has a lonely beauty all of its own, and is one of the most honest, open and heartfelt folk traditions, full of the contradictions of pain and joy felt by a long-suffering people.
The Cajuns are a French-speaking people who emigrated from France to Nova Scotia, only to be expelled by the British in 1755 for their Catholic faith and their refusal to swear allegiance to the Crown. Years of wandering and hardship lead many of them to the unpromising backwaters of Louisiana, where other French speakers already lived. Since then the Cajuns (a corruption of Acadians, from the name given to their Nova Scotia home) have slowly evolved a highly distinctive culture which is neither American nor French; two of the strongest elements of this culture being the spicy food and even spicier music.The first instrument widely used by Cajuns was the fiddle; from Acadian times it provided accompaniment for dancing at Bals de maison (house parties). It was common for one fiddler to play the melody while another provided rhythmic accompaniment (called bassing or seconding). The fiddle style of this time was relatively delicate and complex, using many old French melodies. It is best represented by the playing of Dennis McGee, who first recorded in 1929, and his contemporary Wade Frugé (who gave up for a long time because he claimed he couldn't keep the guys on the dancefloor off his girlfriend whilst he was playing!)
The supremacy of the fiddle was toppled in the 20's by the arrival of the diatonic accordion; though small and light this instrument is tremendously powerful and ideal for the heaving dancefloor in the days before amplification. This accordion was technically quite limiting; unable to play chromatic notes, many of the old tunes were abandoned or simplified. The fiddle style had developed largely around the key of D, to accommodate the use of open string drones; if playing with a D accordion this was fine, but with a C accordion the fiddler had to tune all his strings down a tone. Dennis McGee formed a highly influential partnership with the acclaimed black accordionist Amadée Ardoin; they played and recorded widely in the 20's and 30's. A typical band of the time would include accordion, one or two fiddles, guitar and triangle ( a bistringue), along with vocals.
From the mid 30's came several changes which were to bring the fiddle back to pre-eminence. The discovery of oil in Louisiana opened up the region to outside influences- largely from Texas, where Western Swing and Hillbilly music were in their Heyday. These fiddle-dominated styles were taken on board by many cajun bands, allowing greater commercial possibilities for many musicians. In addition, the innovation of amplification meant that the accordion lost its natural advantage. The accordion went out of fashion (cheers from the gallery!), replaced by steel guitar, bass and drums.
One of the first cajun string bands with this new, smoother sound was the Hackberry Ramblers, led by fiddler Luderin Darbonne. Although cajun by birth he honed his fiddle skills in Texas, and he was the first to bring amplifiers to the dancehalls.
Hackberry Ramblers
Leo Soileau and his band the Three Aces brought a strong dose of Western Swing to cajun, as did Harry Choates, who earned himself the modest title "fiddle king of Cajun Swing" .
The accordion enjoyed another revival after the war in the hands of the great Iry LeJeune; cajun war veterans returned home nostalgic for the distinctive sounds they remembered, and the new Americanised cajun styles faded. Tragically, Iry LeJeune was killed in a car accident in 1955, though his son Eddie, also an accordion player, keeps his memory very much alive.
With the arrival of rock and roll, cajun music as a whole had little chance of being heard much beyond Louisiana until 1964, when fiddler Dewey Balfour very reluctantly agreed to appear at the Newport Folk Festival. To his great surprise, he received not scorn but adulation from the huge audience, and he returned home convinced that cajun music was not something just for the old folks back home, but potentially had great international appeal.
Balfa Brothers
Along with his four brothers, Dewey Balfour became one of the pioneers of the great cajun revival, bringing music to audiences worldwide, a crusade continued by his daughter Christine Balfour of Balfour Toujours. Michael Doucet of Beausoleil brings a modern perspective to cajun music, while Ken Smith, an outstandingly clean and smooth fiddler, tours widely with DL Menard and Eddie LeJeune. The success of such musicians in reaching a wider audience is clearly demonstrated by the fact that Britain, for example, can now boast a whole army of home-grown cajun bands.
Zydeco
A mention must be made of Zydeco, a closely neighbouring style played by black Creole people of Louisiana; influences include French, Spanish and African, along with blues and R&B. Whilst the fiddle does often feature in these bands (notably Douglas Bellard, the first Creole to make a record, and more recently Canray Fontenot, this is primarily accordion driven music with a heavier, more electric sound than cajun.
Cajun fiddle technique
Cajun fiddle style evolved with the necessity to be as loud as possible, so the use of double stops is paramount. Wherever possible open-string drones are used, and simple double-stops are frequent. The bowing is strongly accented, with separate bows sawing out most of the beats. Trills are used, and slides can go both up to and down from a note. A trademark ornament of cajun fiddling is a little one-string run up to a third or fourth-finger note, combined with the lower string drone. As mentioned before, older players often tune the whole instrument down a tone if accompanying a C accordion ; some also use alternative tunings such as GDGB (tuning down the E and A strings), increasing the effect and availability of drone notes. Where twin fiddles are used, the second fiddle may either do a shuffle backing, play the melody an octave down, or play harmony.
Cajun fiddle repertoire
The Cajun repertoire is made up of lively 2-steps (sometimes called Specials) and waltzes; at a dance these will strictly alternate throughout the night. Essential for any cajun band is the waltz Jolie Blonde, first recorded by Amadée Breux in 1929, but covered by just about everybody since. Another fine waltz is La Valse du Pont D'Amour (Lovebridge Waltz) from Iry LeJeune.
Typically the words to these songs can be attributed to particular singers, whilst the tunes, which are usually very simple, may go back centuries. Lafayette, a 2-step, was the first cajun song ever recorded, by Joseph and Cleoma Falcon in 1928. Lacassin Special is another from Iry Lejeune, while two of the most famous songs of all are The Back Door by DL Menard and the cajun-country hit for Hank Williams, Jambalaya.
"Cajun Music is bound by an ancient spirit. Somewhere between interlocked fiddle lines and accordion embellishments, in the spaces of silence between the notes, between the ringing tome of the ‘tit fer, the triangle, there is a soulful space where musicians and listeners visit one another. This space and the dancers and musical instruments that move around it, holds the emotional legacy of the Cajun culture".
-Todd Mouton (a freelance writer based in Lafayette, LA.)
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Chris Haigh is a freelance fiddle player based in London. He plays bluegrass, country, old time and Western Swing fiddle styles, and works with the barn-dance band Quicksilver,
