A Cultural Primer

Meet the Cajuns

The Cajun history is a sad one, but it produced a people and a culture well worth getting to know.

The Acadian Odyssey -- In the early 1600s colonists from France began settling the southeastern coast of Canada in a region of Nova Scotia they named Acadia. They developed a peaceful agricultural society based on the values of a strong Catholic faith, deep love of family, and respect for their relatively small landholdings. The community was isolated from the mainstream of European culture for nearly 150 years. Life was defined by the company of families and friends. This pastoral existence was maintained until 1713 when Acadia became the property of the British under the Treaty of Utrecht. Though the Acadians were determined to keep to their peaceful existence under the new rulers, it became clear that it would not be possible. For more than 40 years, they were harassed by the king's representatives, who tried to force them to pledge allegiance to the British Crown and renounce Catholicism and embrace the king's Protestant religion. This was so abhorrent to Acadians and they were so steadfast in their refusal that, in 1755, the British governor of the region sent troops to seize their farms and deport them. Villages were burned, husbands, wives, and children were separated as ships were loaded, and a 10-year odyssey began.

Some Acadians were returned to France, some went to England, many were put ashore along America's East Coast, and some wound up in the West Indies. The deportation voyages, made on poorly equipped, overcrowded ships, took a huge toll, and hundreds of lives were lost. Many of the survivors who were sent to France and England returned to America as much as 20 years later.

Louisiana, with its strong French background, was a natural destination for Acadians hoping to reestablish a permanent home, and those who were transported to the West Indies were probably the first to head there. In 1765 Bernard Andry brought a band of 231 men, women, and children to the region now known as Acadiana.

The land on which they settled differed greatly from what they had left in Nova Scotia. The swampy terrain was low-lying and boggy; interlaced with bayous and lakes; forested with live oak, willow, ash, and gum; and teeming with wildlife. Given land that mostly bounded the bayous, the Acadians built small levees (or dikes) along the banks and drained fields for small farms and pastures.

A New Pride -- After many decades during which Cajuns shied away from their roots (children were beaten in school for speaking French, which was considered a sign of ignorance; Cajun music was considered primitive or hokey; and so forth), the Cajun culture is experiencing a resurgence of popularity and respect as well as a new sense of community pride.

Cajun Language

This essay was provided by Ann Allen Savoy, who is, along with her husband, Marc, a musician in the Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band and in her own group, the Magnolia Sisters. Both groups have released CDs on the Arhoolie label. Ann is also the author of Cajun Music Vol. 1 (Bluebird Press, 1984), an excellent and definitive work that combines oral history with a songbook. Evangeline Made (Vanguard), a collection of Cajun tunes covered by artists such as Linda Ronstadt, John Fogerty, and Maria McKee (which Ann produced and performed on), was released in 2002 to great critical acclaim and earned a Grammy nomination for Savoy. Her Grammy-nominated collaboration with Linda Ronstadt, Adieu False Heart (Vanguard), is a critical smash. You can see her and son Joel playing musicians in the film Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, and she performs three songs on the soundtrack. She also worked on the soundtrack for the remake of All The King's Men.

The French influence in Louisiana is one of the things that sets the state apart from the rest of the United States. As soon as you get west of Baton Rouge, you can cruise down the Louisiana highways listening on your radio to French news, church services, music, and talk shows. The accent is sharp and bright with occasional English words thrown in ("On va revenir right back" -- "We'll be right back"), so it is fun to see how much even Anglophones can follow the French story lines.

Though French is spoken by most of the older Cajuns (ages 60 and up), most middle-aged and young Louisianans don't speak the language. This is partially because the knowledge of the French language, from the 1930s on, became associated with a lack of business success or a lack of education, so a stigma became attached to it. Today, however, there is a resurgence in pride at being bilingual, particularly in larger towns and metropolitan areas. French emergence programs are cropping up here and there, and educated musicians and teachers ages 30 to 50 are learning to speak French.

Cajun French -- Where can you hear the language spoken? I recommend wandering through old grocery stores, dance halls, and feed stores, where you will hear many "natives" speaking French. This French is peppered with beautiful old words dating from Louis XIV. These words, no longer used in France, are historically intriguing. Cajun French is not a dialect of the French language, nor are there actual dialects of Cajun French from town to town in southwest Louisiana. The impression that there are various dialects could come from the fact that many words refer to particular items, and certain areas prefer particular words over others. For example, a mosquito can be called a marougouin, moustique, or cousin. One area might use only one of the words and never use the others. Remember that Cajun French is not a written language (it's only spoken), so certain words that were originally mispronounced have become part of the language. Similarly, some English words are part of the language today because when the Acadians first came to Louisiana, there were no such things as pickup trucks, typewriters, and other modern inventions, so the English words are used.

The Creole Language -- Parallel to the Cajun French language, the fascinating Creole language is still spoken by many black Louisianans. The language is a compilation of African dialects and French and is quite different from standard French. However, Cajuns and black Creoles can speak and understand both languages.

At the weekly broadcast at the Liberty Theater in Eunice, you can listen to Cajun and zydeco music and enjoy the beauty of the unique Cajun language.

Cajun Music

It's hard to decide which is more important to a Cajun: food or music. Cajuns love music so much that, even in the early days when instruments were scarce, they held dances, with a cappella voices providing the accompaniment. With roots probably found in medieval France, traditional Cajun music is largely an orally transmitted art form. The strains usually come in the form of a brisk two-step or a waltz. The more traditional groups still play mostly acoustic instruments -- a fiddle, an accordion, a triangle, and maybe a guitar.

The best place to hear real Cajun music is on someone's back porch, the time-honored spot for gathering to eat some gumbo and listening to several generations of musicians jamming together all night long. If you don't know a Cajun and don't have access to a back-porch gathering, don't fret. Throughout Cajun Country there are dance halls with something going on just about every weekend. Locals come to dance, and so should you. Don't know how to Cajun dance? Many people will be delighted to show you. Worried everyone will be watching you because you dance so badly? Observe the couples out on the dance floor. Who are you watching? That's right -- the really good couples who fly in complex, almost jitterbug patterns. You aren't looking at the mediocre couples, and neither is anyone else. So don't be shy. And talk to the people around you. This is a social gathering, and Cajuns love to visit, telling stories and jokes.

Restaurants such as Mulate's, Randol's, and D.I.'s offer regular live music and Cajun dancing. The regular Saturday morning jam session at the Savoy Music Center in Eunice is not to be missed -- it's the closest you will get to that back-porch experience, and it is a sheer delight.

In your search for Cajun music, please don't forget zydeco, which also thrives in this region. Zydeco bands share the bill at the weekly live show at Eunice's Liberty Theater, and they are the house specialty at such clubs as Slim's Y Ki-Ki in Opelousas and El Sido's in Lafayette. (You can find more information on the above later in this chapter.)