Cajun music

Studies of Louisiana French, a language long spoken by people in Louisiana, almost unanimously lament the inevitable death of the language, yet very little information exists on the strengths and weaknesses of the language in various media. These predictions are generally based only on the change in the number of speakers over
time obtained through census data (Bankston and Henry 1998; Henry 1997:186-187), which is notoriously unreliable (Blyth 1997:28-29; Dubois 1997:47; Brown 1997:224).

Census data does not differentiate who in the house is speaking French nor to what extent they speak French. The questions on the census are not necessarily consistent over time nor entirely clear in a linguistic climate where the terms French, Cajun French, Louisiana French, and Creole, may all mean different things to different people. This thesis took a different approach by measuring the strength of Louisiana French via its use in Cajun music. The language is used in the music often but its overall importance in defining the music, the fluency of the singers, and the form it takes—be it clearly Louisiana French or a mixture of Standard French as well—have not been thoroughly analyzed before. Two conclusions were arrived at: Louisiana French is an integral aspect of Cajun music and the French being used is highly marked as being Louisiana French. The music itself was defined using a method inspired by optimality theory, allowing the importance of French in the music to be compared to various other musical and extramusical features. The quality of the language used in each recording was then examined to  determine how native-like it was.

The goal of this paper is to describe Cajun accordion playing in the context of Cajun music history. Following a brief description of the Cajun accordion and the other accordions frequently used in Louisiana, I expand upon what I mean by idiom and style as two complementary musical processes that account both for instrumental capabilities and cultural preferences. The main body of the article presents an analysis of musical effects achieved by Cajun accordion players. Concentrating on contemporary performance practice, I describe a range of accordion techniques from easy to difficult to impossible, identify which of these are employed in Cajun music, and observe what result these practices have in the sound of the music. The analysis of style and difficulty is a qualitative one based on my own judgment and informed by talking to accordionists, listening to recordings, and learning to play the instrument myself. The article concludes with a sociolinguistic interpretation of the musical analysis in the context of Cajun ethnicity.

Southwest Louisiana Creoles underwent great change between World Wars I and II as they confronted American culture, people, and norms. This work examines that cultural transformation, paying particular attention to the processes of cultural assimilation and resistance to the introduction and imposition of American social values and its southern racial corollary: Jim Crow. As this work makes clear, the transition to American identity transmuted the cultural foundations of French- and Creole-speaking Creole communities. World War I signalled early transformative changes and over the next three decades, the region saw the introduction of English language, new industries, an increasing number of Protestant denominations, and the forceful imposition of racialized identities and racial segregation. Assimilation and cultural resistance characterized the Creole response, but by 1945, southwest Louisiana more closely resembled much of the American South. Creole leaders in churches, schools, and the tourism industry offered divergent reactions; some elite Creoles began looking to Francophone Canada for whitened ethnic identity support while others turned toward the Catholic establishment in Baltimore, Maryland to bolster their faith. Creoles were not the only distinct community to undergo Americanization, but Louisiana Creoles were singular in their response. As this study makes clear – in ways no historian has previously documented – Louisiana Creoles bifurcated as a result of Americanization. This study also contributes to, and broadens, the literature on Acadian identity. Previously, scholars simply assumed that whitened Latins in Louisiana had always identified with Acadia and their black-racialized brethren with Haiti. This thesis, however, suggests that Cajun and Creole are not opposites. Rather, they derive from the same people and culture, and their perceived and articulated difference emerged in response to Americanization. Through a critical analysis of that bifurcation process, this thesis demonstrates how Acadianized identity and culture emerged in the first half of the 20th century.

Los archivos sonoros de esta colección se han almacenado en formato Microsoft OneDrive (https://1drv.ms/u/s!AisN19ltgXzegZQ29rtfpjtq46rLrw?e=RlYr8J) para su localización y ejecución en cualquier dispositivo y plataforma. Esta serie comprende un muestrario característico de distintos contingentes de tradiciones convergentes en América durante la esclavitud así como elementos de origen europeo y criollo, incluyendo ejemplares de origen cajun y zydeco de Louissiana, así como estilos que estuvieron involucrados en los orígenes del jazz y del rock.

Por pérdida de los archivos originales, el texto se encuentra en severo proceso de (re)construcción pero aún así, incompleto y fragmentario, sigue siendo fascinante. Jamaica ha sido y continuará siendo mucho más que la tierra madre del reggae y el ska y que el escenario del mito más grosero sobre  la grandeza del Negus Ras Tafari.

The survival of the Cajuns, a French-speaking minority
that settled in Louisiana in the end of the 18th century, has always
been menaced by the influences coming from the USA. The only
way to preserve their peculiarities against the “Americanization”
was (and is still) represented by their rich tradition in music. It is
possible to describe the habits of this community through their
songs, which reveal the Cajuns’ humbleness, their conservative
attitude and their troubled past. This study gives a portrait of the
Cajuns following three themes which are developed in their songs:
the diaspora of the Acadians, the representations of Acadia and
Louisiana and the description of the Cajun identity.

One question facing the makers of documentary films is 'How can I make it marketable'? This paper address that question with reference to three films dating from the late twentieth century that set out to document aspects of American folklore:: 'Being a Joines', by Tom Davenport, documenting the life of a North Carolina raconteur; ''J'ai été au bal', by Les Blank, a celebration of the Cajun musical culture of southern Louisiana; and 'Road Scholar', by Andrei Codrescu, a portrait of America as a land of irrepressible and sometimes zany individuality. While honoring people and scenes that are off the beaten track, each film offers a implied critique of the conventionality of mainstream culture.