CAJUN FRENCH MUSIC ASSOCIATION

The 18^th Annual Cajun Day Festival

Saturday, April 2, 2006

Cajun Day Festival Flyer-Printable copy - click here

This information was for the 2006 Cajun Day Festival for the Baton Rouge Chapter of the CFMA. 

There will be no 2007 Baton Rouge Cajun Day fund raiser!

The Baton Rouge Chapter of the Cajun French Association announces it annual fundraiser, The Cajun Day Festival on April 2nd at the Port Allen Community Center in the 700 block of Jefferson Avenue. across from the West Baton Rouge Parish Communications Center at 750 N. Jefferson Avenue.

See: Map to Port Allen Community Center below.

The Cajun Day Festival is a day of great Cajun bands, music, dancing and good Cajun Food and drink. Doors open at 9:00 AM. All day admission is $6.00 for adults, children under 12 free. Great Cajun foods available include Jambalaya, BBQ ribs and Hamburgers. Cajun classics such as boudin and crackling will also be on the menu.

The festival band lineup features three of the most exciting and popular Cajun bands in South Louisiana.

10:30 am ~ 12:30 pm - Savoir Fairé avec Paul Daigle

1 ~ 3 pm - Donnie Broussard and the Louisiana Stars

 3:30 pm ~ 5:30 pm - Brett Denais & 'tit Rouge Cajun Band

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Much has been said over the last few years about the importance of protecting and preserving the unique culture of South Louisiana. The CFMA (Cajun French Music Association) is one organization that is hard at work doing just that and having a lot of fun at the same time.

The Cajun French Music Association is a non-profit organization founded in 1984. Comprised of Cajuns and non-Cajuns, its primary purpose is the preservation of the Cajun culture, music and language. The Baton Rouge’s CFMA chapter was founded in 1984 and has grown into a membership of over 300 families. We are now part of the CFMA organization that serves 10 chapters in South and Southwest Louisiana and Texas.

Most of the local members are grass root Cajuns who wish to preserve their heritage by teaching the authentic Cajun language and the traditions of the Acadian ancestry.

THE BATON ROUGE CFMA CHAPTER

The Baton Rouge chapter of the CFMA is one of the most active chapters putting on Cajun Dances on most Fridays of the year and certain holidays. We invite well known Cajun bands as well as emerging or younger bands from the Baton Rouge area and all over Southwestern Louisiana to play every Friday night, thus nourishing the continuation of the Cajun French music tradition.

The Baton Rouge CFMA Chapter sponsors Les Danseurs de la Capitale De Baton Rouge, a group of folks who promote Cajun culture, language and music through dance. They are proud of their heritage and enjoy sharing the “joie de vie” Cajun’s are famous for. The Dance troupe serves the community in many ways, dancing several times weekly at retirement and nursing homes. They will dance at the festival.

CAJUN MUSIC, a very short history.

Cajun music (like Cajun cooking) is one of the most assessable aspects of Louisiana’s cultural gumbo. Because Music and dancing can circumvent language barriers Cajun music and dance has enjoyed a popularity that the pioneering Louisiana musicians would have envied.

Traditional Cajun Music is a blend of instruments and playing styles learned from the earliest Louisiana settlers with later immigrants adding to the blend. Black creoles contributed rhythms and percussion techniques and improvised instrumentation such as washtubs, kitchen spoons and washboards. The Spanish contributed the guitar, the violin and musical triangle came from the French. In the 19^th century the German-Jewish merchants imported the “new” accordion from Austria.

Acadian and Creole musicians learned how to make familiar and new tunes on these new musical contraptions. With its distinctive pattern Cajun music is different from most other music. Cajun music is dance music, its strong rhythm an essential for dancing.

The accordion was not always the lead instrument in Cajun bands and many groups still use a mix of string and or steel and electric guitar to accompany the vocalist. A typical Cajun band today may include accordions, fiddles, rhythm-bass, electric guitars, drums and other percussion instruments such as the triangle (Bas-thong or Tee-fair), modified kitchen soup spoons and the musical washboard called a “frottoir” in Cajun.

It is estimated that over 9000 Cajun songs have been recorded since the 20’s and new ones are being composed at a rate of about 33 compact discs a year

The Cajun singing style of today like its music is a blend of many cultures. The music style has been passed on from generation to generation to generation, sons and daughters alike. Over time some music has been lost. Cajuns used to play double-time waltzes, contra dances, polkas, mazurkas, reels and square dances. Today you hear traditional Cajun Waltzes, two-steps and some good jig or jitterbug songs. A staple are the exciting instrumentals that can be danced to a lively two-step or the Zydeco-step (which is becoming very popular with younger dancers today).

Allons danser!

Map to Port Allen Community Center