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ZOL Today in History
One day like today...
1995
Highly respected creole fiddler Creole fiddler Canray Fontenot died on July 29, 1995 after a lengthy battle with lung cancer and diabetes.
His family was originally from the Duralde area, where his father worked as a sharecropper and cane cutter.He began playing the fiddle at the age of nine.
"So, we took some cigar boxes," he said. "In those days, cigar boxes were made of wood.
So, we worked at it and finally made ourselves a fiddle.
For our strings, we had no real strings ... we took strands off the screen door.
We made fiddles out of that stuff, and then we started practicing."
He began playing with his father, Adam Fontenot, at area dances and weddings.
He also played second fiddle to Amédé Ardoin, who often played together with his father.
Amédé Ardoin and Adam Fontenot are considered the most influential black
Creole accordion players of their generation.
After his father's death, Fontenot began playing with Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin,
an accordionist from nearby Duralde, Louisiana.
Fontenot and Ardoin played together for more than 40 years, making recordings and
performing across the United States and abroad. Together, and separately, Canray Fontenot
and Alphonse "Bois Sec"Ardoin were widely acclaimed. Fontenot's fiddle technique was
legendary; his loose, Caribbean-style bowing was extraordinary. Over the course of his
life, Fontenot mastered the traditional black Creole repertoire, but also created a new
form—his self-titled "blues-waltzes," combining blues tonalities, jazz improvisation,
and Cajun modal scales into a music all his own. In 1986, Canray Fontenot was awarded
the prestigious National Heritage Award from the National Endowment for the Arts for folk music,
the nation's highest award for musicians.
Zydeco Family
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News
ZydecoOnline is on Twitter
Posted by ZLady on Monday, September 21, 2009 (19:29:42) (326 reads)
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Zydeco Nation's Lloyd Mitchell Loses His Mother To Illness
Posted by rsias on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 (19:00:00) (393 reads)
Zydeco Nation's Lloyd Mitchell Loses His Mother To Illness
Talented Zydeco Musician's Mother Transitions
May 12, 2010
submitted by Lola Love
www.ZydecoOnline.com
Donations to the Mitchell Family
on behalf of Ms. Brenda Lee Mitchell
can be sent to the following address:
Mitchell Family Burial Fund
c/o
The Zydeco Historical & Preservation Society
(The Zydeco Nation Family Medical Fund)
P.O. 2361
Opelousas, Louisiana 70571-2361
Today, May 12, 2010 is Lloyd Mitchell's birthday. If you know Zydeco Music, then you know, or may have seen Lloyd performing at local venues and trailrides. Known to The Zydeco Nation as "Big Lloyd"; he is currently the Scrub board player and hype man for Keith Frank and The Soileau Zydeco Band (formerly w/ Same Ol' 2 Step). Today is certainly is a bittersweet birthday for Lloyd, since he lost his mother last week due to a cancer related illness. Our hearts ache during this time of loss, and our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Mitchell family.
We were fortunate enough to obtain an interview from Lloyd where he speaks about his mother, Mrs. Brenda Lee Mitchell. This interview was conducted earlier during the month of May as a tribute for the Mothers Day’s Zydeco Workout special on the ZydecoOnline.com (monthly webcast). If you have not heard this interview, please take a moment to visit our website: www.ZydecoOnline.com (section: s111).
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Obituary: Joseph Roy Carrier, Sr.
Posted by rsias on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 (15:26:00) (221 reads)
Obituary: Joseph Roy Carrier, Sr.
Originally published May 07, 2010
courtesy of The Daily World Newspaper
Joseph Roy Carrier, Sr.
"Living Legend Roy Carrier"
(February 11, 1947 - May 4, 2010)
LAWTELL - Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, May 11, 2010, at Holy Family Catholic Church, in Lawtell, for Mr. Joseph R. Carrier, Sr., 63. God called the icon of Zydeco music home, on Tuesday, May 4, 2010, at Opelousas General Health System, in Opelousas.
Interment will be in Holy Family Catholic Church Cemetery, in Lawtell. Rev. Denis Osuagwa, C.M.F will officiate at the Mass of Christian burial.
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Wilfred Chevis Passes on May 7, 2010
Posted by rsias on Friday, May 07, 2010 (12:35:00) (307 reads)
Wilfred Chevis Passes on May 7, 2010
Zydeco Mainstay Transitions at the Age of 65
May 8, 2010
by Rod Sias
www.ZydecoOnline.com
Photo by James Fraher
Wilfred Chevis
"Zydeco Mainstay"
(1945 - May 7, 2010)
Rest In Peace
One of the Zydeco Nation’s mainstay figures and unsung mentors, Wilfred Chavis died on Friday, May 7, 2010 at the age of 65 in Houston, Texas.
Wilfred Chevis was born in Church Point, Louisiana in 1945. He grew up immersed and grounded in the black Creole tradition of southwest Louisiana and became a student of the old Creole “La La” music at a early age, being introduced to “La La” music by and learning from his father the late creole musician Volmont Chevis (who passed away in 2001). At the age of 11, Mr. Chevis began to learn to play the button accordion, and played with his father until the age of 25. He never veered from the button accordion, an instrument he mastered under the tutelage and mentorship of the late King of Zydeco, Mr. Clifton Chenier.
In 1969, Mr. Chevis relocated to Houston, Texas where he became the band leader of Wilfred Chevis and the Texas Zydeco Band. For over 41 years, Mr. Wilfred Chevis and the Texas Zydeco Band became a mainstay in the Texas Zydeco and Blues circuit, clubs,church halls, church bazaars, and festivals, becoming a critical link to traditional Creole and Zydeco Music and one of the key facilitators in the transition and development in the Texas style of Zydeco Music.
Mr. Wilfred Chevis was an accomplished Zydeco musician with several Zydeco songs that have become classics in the Zydeco Nation; however, it was his humility and his willingness to embrace, teach, and mentor younger Zydeco musicians that was perhaps his greatest gift to the Zydeco Nation and the lesson he leaves with us. As he was mentored in the old black Creole musical tradition by his father, Volmont Chevis, Clifton Chenier, and other musicians, Mr. Chevis was an unsung teacher, at times overlooked by the trending and changing musical taste of the Zydeco Nation, but he helped pass on the Creole tradition to Zydeco Musicians like Step Rideau, J. Paul Jr. and the Zydeco Dots, and helping to ensure the survival and emergence of Zydeco and Creole music in Texas.
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Roy Carrier Dies of a Heart Attack
Posted by rsias on Tuesday, May 04, 2010 (16:23:17) (902 reads)
Roy Carrier Dies of a Heart Attack
Zydeco Nation's "Living Legend" Transitions Today at 12:15am.
May 4, 2010
by Rod Sias
www.ZydecoOnline.com
Joseph Roy Carrier
"Zydeco Living Legend"
(February 11, 1947 - May 4, 2010)
Rest In Peace
One of the Zydeco Nation's elder statesmen, Joseph Roy Carrier died on May 4, 2010 at 12:15am of a heart attack at the age of 63 at the Opelousas General Hospital in Opelousas, Louisiana.
Mr. Carrier had been diagnosed with lung cancer in December 2009 and had undergone kidney dialysis treatment, removal of a blood clot from his leg, and had recently suffered from pneumonia.
Joseph Roy Carrier was born on February 11, 1947 to a sharecropper family in Lawtell-Opelousas area in rural southwest Louisiana. His black Creole roots ran deep as the Carrier family became on of the most influential families in the black Creole music tradition in Southwest Louisiana and Texas...a tradition that Roy Carrier stayed true as he never veered from the the traditional Creole "La La" style pioneered by members of his family like pioneering Creole fiddler Joseph Bébé Carriére and Calvin Carriére and the Zydeco Blues style of the King of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier. His deep grounding in and understanding of the black Creole Culture of southwest Louisiana and Texas help shape and influence several generations of new Zydeco and Creole musicians whom personally mentored through his weekly free Sunday jam sessions at his Offshore Lounge in Lawtell, Louisiana.
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Celebrating tradition
Posted by ZLady on Friday, April 23, 2010 (22:03:33) (205 reads)
The past will come alive Saturday during the Ninth Annual Sharecropper's Day celebration at the Creole Heritage Folklife Center on West Vine Street in Opelousas.
April 23, 2010
Courtesy of William Johnson
dailyworld
Organizer Rebecca Henry said the free event features music, food and a Creole Buggy Wedding.
While the day will be about sharing and fun, Henry said its deeper purpose is celebrating the past and helping young people connect to the triumphs and struggles of their ancestors.
Henry grew up in a sharecropper family as did many people in this area. She called it a simpler time but also a time rich in family and tradition.
"My upbringing was wonderful. We didn't have any money, but we were never poor," Henry said. "It is not about complaining about what you don't have. It is about appreciating what you do have."
The festival will start at noon with pork stew, cracklin and a host of special Creole dishes and the music of Guyland Leday & The Family Band.
The high point of the day will be the Creole Buggy Wedding at 2 p.m. This year Mary and Austin Bias of the Frilot Cove area, who will arrive in a decorated horse-drawn wagon, will renew their vows.
For those not aware, Mary and Austin Bias are the grandparents of Zydeco prodigy Guyland Leday.
Want to go?
Ninth Annual Sharecropper's Day
Noon to 5 p.m., Saturday, April 24, 2010
Creole Festival Folklife Center
1113 W. Vine St., Opelousas, Louisiana
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Jabo's Mix Of Zydeco, Blues Makes For Tasteful Offering
Posted by rsias on Monday, April 19, 2010 (14:00:00) (165 reads)
Jabo's Mix Of Zydeco, Blues Makes For Tasteful Offering
Originally published April 14, 2010
By Strings
FrostIllustrated.com
Visit Jabo at www.jabofm.com
Looking for a different yet soulful music experience? Check out the latest CD by Jabo, Texas’ own Prince of Zydeco—“Southern Choice: Zydeco and Blues” [Lake Charles Records/Phat Sound Promotions].
That’s right—Texas zydeco. Admittedly, I’m no expert on the genre, even though I happen to like the happy, energetic, accordion— driven dance and party music, but I’ve long labored under the impression that zydeco was a Louisiana thing. Then, along comes Texan Jabo and his energetic band that includes not only accordion, but drums, guitar, bass and keyboards, but another very important zydeco instrument—the rub board.
Jabo has a new fan site!
TO READ THE FULL STORY
AND PREVIEW "LIL JABB & TRIPLE KROWN ZYDECO"
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Show of Zydeco Force
Posted by rsias on Friday, April 16, 2010 (22:25:00) (269 reads)
Show of Zydeco Force
By Judy Bastien
The Daily World Newspaper
April 16, 2010
Zydeco Force rocks the house during
a reunion performance Wednesday
at Casa Olé during a taping of Swamp and Roll.
The broadcast will air Thursday on KDCG.
(Photo by Freddie Herpin)
What: Zydeco Force reunion, live performance
When: 9 p.m. April 24
Where: Scène Chevron, Festival International de Louisiane, downtown Lafayette
Cost: Free
Online: 2010.festivalinternational.com
They were pioneers in the latter-day zydeco movement, and the members of Zydeco Force played together for almost two decades before disbanding.
"I remember Zydeco Force was one of the leaders of the zydeco renaissance in the 1980s, when young Creoles started getting into the music," said Herman Fuselier, music columnist and local radio and TV host. "A lot of young accordion players today patterned themselves after (front man) Jeffery Broussard and Zydeco Force."
Although the band has taken a long hiatus and its members have gone onto other bands or other endeavors, their fans are still out there, and they still want more. Yielding to requests from from those fans, Zydeco Force has reunited, if only temporarily, to give them a taste of the music that made the band a local legend.
Zydeco Force held a band reunion at Casa Ole'
in Opelousas, Louisiana on Wednesday, April 14, 2010.
Video by Freddie Herpin
What: Broadcast of Zydeco Force reunion performance at Casa Olé
When: 6 p.m. April 22 and noon April 24, 2010
Where: "Swamp and Roll" on KDCG TV 22
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Zydeco Ambassadors Return Home To Jam
Posted by rsias on Saturday, March 20, 2010 (20:55:31) (219 reads)
Zydeco Ambassadors Return Home To Jam
Buckwheat Zydeco and Terrance Simien
to Perform Together On-Stage At
Grant Street Dance Hall On
April 24, 2010!
March 19, 2010
by Herman Fuselier
Pioneering Zydeco Artists and past Grammy Award Winners
Buckwheat Zydeco and Terrance Simien will perform
together for the Zydeco Nation on April 24, 2010 in
Lafayette, Louisiana!
Between them, Buckwheat Zydeco and Terrance Simien have been part of two Grammy wins, six Grammy nominations, an Emmy, three presidential inaugurations, 10 movie soundtracks and dozens of national TV shows and commercials.
Each has toured more than a million miles and although they both live in Lafayette Parish, they've never played together. Until now.
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Dancing In The Streets
Posted by rsias on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 (17:25:00) (178 reads)
Dancing In The Streets
February 17, 2010
By William Johnson
The Daily World Newspaper
Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie
kept the crowd dancing in downtown
Opelousas, Louisiana.
Hundreds stayed around after the Mardi Gras parade in Opelousas to dance the day away to the music of Geno Delafose and French Rockin’ Boogie.
Mike and Liz Humphries, dressed in traditional Cajun Mardi Gras costumes, made the trip from Baton Rouge for the celebration.
“We came to dance with Geno and then we are on our way to Eunice to dance with Steve Riley and The Mamou Playboys. But we couldn’t pass up Opelousas. It is the birthplace of zydeco,” Mike Humphries said.
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Cedric Watson and his band give Bangkok its first taste of zydeco music
Posted by rsias on Tuesday, March 09, 2010 (17:00:00) (239 reads)
Cedric Watson and his band give Bangkok its first taste of zydeco music
February 19,2010
The Bangkock Post
Cedric Watson is committed to singing
in creole French, an endangered language.
Creole musician Cedric Watson and his band Bijou Creole introduced zydeco music for the first time to Bangkokians at the recent Rhythm of the Earth festival. Fresh from the Grammy Awards where he was nominated for Best Zydeco album, for his second album, Esprit Creole (Valcour Records, USA), along with major stars like Buckwheat Zydeco (who eventually won the coveted award), Cedric played several stirring sets at the festival. People warmed quickly to his wonderful fiddle and button-accordion playing and friendly stage manner and to the funky musical accompaniment of his band.
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Dancing Can Ease Bumps And Bruises
Posted by rsias on Saturday, March 06, 2010 (16:26:31) (178 reads)
Dancing Can Ease Bumps And Bruises
BENEFIT FOR THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY
TO BE HELD ON MARCH 7, 2010
March 5, 2010
by Herman Fuselier
The Daily World Newspaper
Dance to Cure Cancer
BENEFIT FOR THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Noon -10:00PM
@ Grant Street Dancehall
113 Grant St, Lafayette, LA 70501
Ph: 337-237-8513
$15.00 Donation
Experts say dancing improves flexibility, strength, endurance and provides a sense of well being. Who needs experts to tell us what we already knew?
In South Louisiana, dancing is a tradition as old as the first settler who danced a jig upon discovering he wasn't in Arkansas anymore. We dance at clubs, casinos, festivals, church halls, trail rides, fairs, games and more.
If Jack Daniels and Jim Beam are among the grieving family, dancing can break out at wakes and funerals.
TO READ THE FULL STORY & SCHEDULE
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Benefit for Ulysses "Flip" Taylor
Posted by Lola Love on Wednesday, March 03, 2010 (21:19:40) (426 reads)
Benefit for Ulysses "Flip" Taylor tonight March 3, 2010 at Club ICU, Houston
Funeral services to be held on Saturday, March 6, 2010 in Opelousas
March 3, 2010
Submitted by Lola Love
www.ZydecoOnline.com
R.I.P.
Benefit for Ulysses "Flip" Taylor
Today, Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Club ICU
9514 Mesa Dr (Mesa@Tidwell)
Houston, TX
Doors open at 7pm
Performances by J. Paul Jr., Step Rideau,
Nooney,
Samone,
and a host of other bands to perform.
[align=center]
Services will be held on Saturday, March 6, 2010
Viewing 8am-10:30am
Williams Funeral Home
817 E South St
Opelousas, LA 70571
Church service @ 11:00 am:
Holy Ghost Catholic Church
804 North Union Street
Opelousas, LA 70570
Ulysses "Flip" Taylor was 16 years old when he began to show up in Beaumont, TX at the shows where J Paul Jr. and the Zydeco Nubreeds would perform. Taylor was a frequent spectator at all of the shows, and was very influenced by the band’s sound and stage presence. “He was like a little brother to the band, he liked to rap, and wanted to perform” says David Williams, band equipment manager and cd designer.
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ZydecoOnline Remembers The Great Nina Simone
Posted by rsias on Sunday, February 21, 2010 (04:35:00) (129 reads)
ZydecoOnline Remembers The Great Nina Simone
Eunice Kathleen Waymon
( Nina Simone)
(February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003)
February 21, 1933 - April 21, 2003
Singer - Pianist - Arranger - Composer
Honorary Doctor in Music and Humanities
High Priestess of Soul
Queen of African Rooted Classical Music
http://www.ninasimone.com/
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Saints fans to party Saturday in Opelousas
Posted by rsias on Friday, February 05, 2010 (16:43:10) (195 reads)
Saints fans to party Saturday in Opelousas
ZydecoOnline.com Partners with Local Fans to Support
Devery Henderson & the New Orleans Saints!
February 5, 2010
by William Johnson
The Daily World Newspaper
Opelousas Native Devery Henderson
& the New Orleans Saints
will represent the NFC in Superbowl XLIV
in Miami, Florida on February 7, 2010!
The Super Bowl is Sunday and local Saints fans will have one more chance to cheer their team on to victory this Saturday.
Zydeco Online Inc. is teaming up with local fans, the City of Opelousas and Opelousas native and Saints' wide-receiver Devery Henderson and family to host a Saints party in North City Park from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Join Family & Friends in the Zydeco Nation
on Saturday, February 6, 2010
at the Opelousas North City Park
3:00pm 6:00pm
To Support the New Orleans Saints!
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PAST REPRINT: BAND OF YOUNG REGULATORS
Posted by rsias on Wednesday, February 03, 2010 (10:55:00) (140 reads)
PAST REPRINT: BAND OF YOUNG REGULATORS
Originally Published May 31, 1899
Crowley Signal
Crowley, Louisiana
Photo Courtesy of www.withoutsanctuary.org
A band of youthful regulators was out Tuesday night. There were about twenty of them ranging in age from nine to sixteen years. It was impossible to get any particulars from them concerning it for they are closed mouthed as they could be and it was only by putting remarks of different ones together that anything like a connected story could be gotten.
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Buckwheat Zydeco Wins 2009 Grammy Award!
Posted by rsias on Monday, February 01, 2010 (00:34:26) (598 reads)
Buckwheat Zydeco Wins 2009 Grammy Award!
Zydeco Nation’s Elder Statesman Wins His First Grammy at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards Celebration!
January 31, 2010
submitted by Rod Sias
www.ZydecoOnline.com
Stanley Dural Jr, (Buckwheat Zydeco) was awarded the
2009 Grammy Award for Best Zydeco and Cajun CD
for his CD entitled “Lay Your Burden Down.”
www.buckwheatzydeco.com
Mr. Stanley Dural Jr., known to the Zydeco Nation and the world as “Buckwheat Zydeco” and leader of the Zydeco outfit “Buckwheat Zydeco and the Ils Sont Partis Band” was awarded the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Zydeco/Cajun Album for his CD entitled “Lay Your Burden Down.”
Although this is Buckwheat Zydeco’s first Grammy Award and the third year the mainstream that the 52 year old Grammy Recording Academy has recognized Zydeco and Cajun Music as a separate and distinct category, Buckwheat Zydeco’s illustrious musical career spans over thirty years and has impacted, defined, and influenced Zydeco Music as well as exposed Zydeco music and the black Creole Culture of Southwest Louisiana and Texas to the world.
Part 1 of an up close and personal interview
with Lola Love of Zydeco Online and the
Zydeco Nation's own elder statesman,
Mr. Stanley Dural "Buckwheat Zydeco".
More information about Buckwheat Zydeco,
Zydeco Music and Creole Culture at:
www.ZydecoOnline.com
and
www.BuckwheatZydeco.com
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Louisiana Night at The Grammy Museum
Posted by ZLady on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 (07:40:46) (353 reads)
Louisiana Night at The GRAMMY Museum
Come celebrate a night of Louisiana and congratulate this year's nominees!
January 15, 2010
by Lola Love
www.ZydecoOnline.com
The Zydeco Nation represents 20 of the 34
entries in the first round of this year's Grammy Nominations!
Louisiana Night at The GRAMMY Museum
When: Saturday, January 30, 2010: 8:30pm
Celebrate the musical legacy of Louisiana at The GRAMMY Museum! Join us as current GRAMMY nominees The Magnolia Sisters, Cedric Watson and Bijou Creole, Zachary Richard, and C.C. Adcock perform and celebrate the rich cultural heritage of Louisiana at the GRAMMY Sound Stage in The GRAMMY Museum.
Doors open at 8pm. Admission is free and open exclusively to Museum Members. To reserve tickets, please call 213.765.6800 ext. 4 or e-mail membership@grammymuseum.org
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ZydecoOnline Remembers Sammy Davis Jr.
Posted by rsias on Tuesday, December 08, 2009 (04:45:00) (263 reads)
ZydecoOnline Remembers Sammy Davis Jr.
Samuel George Davis, Jr.
December 8, 1925 - May 16, 1990
Samuel George Davis, Jr. was perhaps one of the greatest pure entertainer in the modern music industry. A child protege' at two years old, Mr. Davis Jr. dominated and revolutionized the entertainment industry and became the standard that musicians and entertainers like Michael Jackson would enmulate.
Primarily a dancer and singer, Davis was a childhood vaudevillian, and became internationally famous for his performances on Broadway and Las Vegas, as a recording artist, television and film star, and the only black member of Frank Sinatra's "Rat Pack".
At the age of three Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father and "uncle" as the Will Mastin Trio, toured nationally, and after military service, returned to the trio. Davis became an overnight sensation following a well received nightclub performance at Ciro's after the 1951 Academy Awards, with the trio, became an recording artist, and made his first film performances later that decade. Losing his left eye in a car accident in 1954, he converted to Judaism and appeared in the first Rat Pack movie, "Ocean's Eleven" in 1960.
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Celebrating A Century
Posted by rsias on Saturday, December 05, 2009 (14:00:00) (273 reads)
Celebrating A Century
Knights of Peter Claver Celebrate 100 years of Service
November 30, 2009
By Judy Bastien
The Daily World Newspaper
Supreme Knight Gene A. Phillips Sr., center, heads into the church
as the Knights of Peter Claver celebrates its 100th anniversary nationally
and its 92nd anniversary in Opelousas on Sunday afternoon at
Holy Ghost Catholic Church.
In the early part of the 20th century, black Catholics were not allowed to join fraternal organizations associated with their faith.
As a means for them to be more active in their faith, the Knights of Peter Claver was founded in 1909 in Mobile, Ala. The organization was named for a Spanish Jesuit priest who opposed slavery and ministered to African slaves in the 1600s.
A Mass in honor of the organization's 100th anniversary was celebrated Sunday at Holy Ghost Catholic Church, followed by a reception.
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Serving A Community
Posted by rsias on Friday, December 04, 2009 (14:00:00) (197 reads)
Serving A Community
Holy Ghost Church Serves the Needy Through Its Community Diner
November 26, 2009
By Judy Bastien
The Daily World Newspaper
Holy Ghost Community Diner volunteers
Bernadette Thomas, from left, Elinor Eaglin
and Elizabeth R. Chavis prepare plates of
food to serve to those in need on Tuesday in
Opelousas. (Photos for the Daily World)
The smells of a Thanksgiving feast filled the air a bit early at the Holy Ghost Community Diner, as volunteers served a traditional turkey dinner to their clients. It was Thanksgiving Tuesday at the diner.
The diner, in existence since 1986, serves meals to those in need each Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, with special meals during holidays. It is housed in the former Holy Ghost School building.
The diner operates with a volunteer staff led by James and Elinor Eaglin. Elinor Eaglin is a retired teacher and a member of the St. Landry Parish School Board, when she isn't coordinating volunteers and working at the diner.
The diner, which operates through donations of money and food, mostly from Holy Ghost parishioners, serves about 100 meals each day it is open, Eaglin said.
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Zydeco Giants Unite to Feed The Needy
Posted by rsias on Friday, November 13, 2009 (12:49:29) (225 reads)
Zydeco Giants Unite to Feed The Needy
23rd Annual Thanksgiving Zydeco Food Drive
to be held on November 18, 2009 at El Sido's
November 13, 2009
by Herman Fusilier
courtesy of The Daily World Newspaper
The Zydeco Nation's premier statesman, Mr. Stanley Dural (Buckwheat Zydeco)
(left) returns every year to his hometown to support the
Annual Thanksgiving Zydeco Food Drive. The annual food drive
is organized by Mr. Sid Williams (right) and Don "Apollo" Wilson.
Name a fall event that can bring a Grammy winner, an Emmy winner, a member of the first family of Baton Rouge blues and dozens of touring musicians to Lafayette. Festival International is a good guess, but that isn't until April.
The stars fall on Lafayette Nov. 18 for the 23rd annual Thanksgiving Zydeco Food Drive. This holiday tradition kicks off at 8 p.m. at its usual home, El Sido's Zydeco and Blues Club, 1523 St. Antoine St., Lafayette.
23rd Annual Thanksgiving Zydeco Food Drive
Thursday, November 18, 2009
El Sido's Zydeco and Blues Club
1523 St. Antoine Street
Lafayette, Louisiana 70501
(337) 237-1959
Donations Welcomed!!!
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ZydecoOnline Remembers the Legendary Amédé Ardoin
Posted by rsias on Thursday, November 05, 2009 (02:14:32) (255 reads)
ZydecoOnline Remembers the Legendary Amédé Ardoin
Zydeco Nation's Patriarch Transitions On This Day
November 4, 2009
The Great
Amédé Ardoin
Father of the Creole and Zydeco Music
(March 11, 1898 – November 4, 1941)
by Rod Sias
www.ZydecoOnline.com
The great Amédé Ardoin died on this day, November 4, 1941 at the age of 43. The great-grandson of a slave, Amédé Ardoin was a black, Creole, French-speaking accordion player who single-handedly created and laid the foundation for the modern Creole and Cajun style of music.
He is acknowledged by both Zydeco and Cajun musicians as the most respected and most influential of all south Louisiana French musicians, and the direct link between the old Creole "La La" music and Cajun music and their modern equivalent that is played today.
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Old-School Rules
Posted by rsias on Sunday, November 01, 2009 (18:00:00) (267 reads)
Old-School Rules
Wilfred Chevis provides the link between Clifton Chenier and the Zydeco Dots
Originally Published on May 31, 2001
By Mike Emery
The Houston Press
Houston has been very, very good to Wilfred Chevis.
It's Sunday night at Mr. A's. The Fifth Ward nightclub is pretty empty, but zydeco man Wilfred Chevis is unconcerned about the sparse attendance. It's still early, after all.
"Oh, they'll come, man," he says. "On Sunday nights, you can't even walk in here sometimes."
The spacious lounge is darkly lit; a big-screen TV broadcasts an Atlanta Braves game. Some regulars enter clad in cowboy hats and Wranglers, speaking with lilting Creole accents. Everyone seems to know one another. They shake hands, order their usual cocktails and acknowledge Chevis's presence. Someone informs him that the nearby St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church is having an event this evening.
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Zydeco Artist in Disney Film
Posted by rsias on Thursday, October 29, 2009 (13:14:39) (221 reads)
Zydeco Artist in Disney Film
October 26, 2009
By Steven K. Landry
The Advocate
Zydeco artist Terrance Simien recently completed work on a
new animated Disney movie, where he did music and vocals
in his role as a singing firefly. The film will première during
the Christmas season.
LAFAYETTE, LA
Ladies and gentlemen and Cajun boys and girls, now playing the caterpillar: Grammy-winning zydeco artist Terrance Simien!
Yes … the caterpillar. But don’t call PETA yet.
By Christmas, in theaters, Simien will be playing a cartoon character — a firefly sporting a beret — who sings and also commandeers a squeezable cartoon caterpillar, which will act as his regular instrument of choice in Walt Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog.”
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What is Zydeco?
Zydeco Music is a unique form of musical expression that originated in rural southwest Louisiana. Locally known as "la la" music, Zydeco music was formed and forged in a time best forgotten--a time when African-Americans had to struggle in the fields from sunup to sundown as sharecroppers so that their children might reap a better life.
It was these backbreaking hard times that help to define one of the most vibrant and successful musical traditions in the world. The phrase "Zydeco sont pas sale'" means "The snapbeans are not Salty" in Creole French, and the music draws upon French, Creole, West African, Cajun, Caribbean, and R & B musical traditions. Zydeco Music is characterized by the use of the accordion, spoons, scrubboard, fiddle and triangle.
--ZydecoOnline.com--
Today in Zydeco History
One day like today...
1995
Highly respected creole fiddler Creole fiddler Canray Fontenot died on July 29, 1995 after a lengthy battle with lung cancer and diabetes.
His family was originally from the Duralde area, where his father worked as a sharecropper and cane cutter.He began playing the fiddle at the age of nine.
"So, we took some cigar boxes," he said. "In those days, cigar boxes were made of wood.
So, we worked at it and finally made ourselves a fiddle.
For our strings, we had no real strings ... we took strands off the screen door.
We made fiddles out of that stuff, and then we started practicing."
He began playing with his father, Adam Fontenot, at area dances and weddings.
He also played second fiddle to Amédé Ardoin, who often played together with his father.
Amédé Ardoin and Adam Fontenot are considered the most influential black
Creole accordion players of their generation.
After his father's death, Fontenot began playing with Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin,
an accordionist from nearby Duralde, Louisiana.
Fontenot and Ardoin played together for more than 40 years, making recordings and
performing across the United States and abroad. Together, and separately, Canray Fontenot
and Alphonse "Bois Sec"Ardoin were widely acclaimed. Fontenot's fiddle technique was
legendary; his loose, Caribbean-style bowing was extraordinary. Over the course of his
life, Fontenot mastered the traditional black Creole repertoire, but also created a new
form—his self-titled "blues-waltzes," combining blues tonalities, jazz improvisation,
and Cajun modal scales into a music all his own. In 1986, Canray Fontenot was awarded
the prestigious National Heritage Award from the National Endowment for the Arts for folk music,
the nation's highest award for musicians.
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