Cajun Country

Growing Up Cajun

Growing up immersed in Cajun culture was rewarding but alienating. My heroes weren't football jocks or rock-'n'-roll stars but rather my old neighbors who spoke French, farmed for a living, and played the accordion or fiddle. When fiddler Dennis McGee farmed for my grandpa, I didn't play with his children, even though they were my age -- I hung around Dennis. I followed him in the fields while he plowed with his mule team. I wanted to hear his stories.

Needless to say, none of my classmates shared my love for what these old-timers had to offer. On my best days, my peers' attitude toward me was indifference. I remember a beautiful girl who sat near my desk all during grade school. I would fantasize about being her boyfriend, which was, of course, impossible. She was very heavy into sports and cheerleading and the mainstream, and I wasn't. Recently this same girl came into my store to purchase some Cajun CDs to send to her daughter, who was out of state and expressed a love for Cajun music. I recognized her immediately when she came in, even though 40 years had passed. We talked awhile, and when she was leaving she asked, "Where are you from?"

Even though it was difficult being Cajun in the '40s and '50s, I never felt any anger toward the negativity of the non-Cajuns or by those Cajuns who had given up their heritage. My feelings at this time were frustration and disappointment toward those people. To me, the choice they were making was bad for themselves. They were turning away from this wonderful heritage in pursuit of the mainstream. They were turning their backs on a delicious bowl of gumbo in favor of an American hot dog. I think my ulterior motive in 1966 in opening up a music store that specialized in Cajun music, rather than country or rock, was that I had an ax to grind. I wanted to destroy the stigma of being Cajun. I wanted to prove to the locals that heritage and success could coexist, that being Cajun and speaking French was okay. I wanted to tell outsiders how good our food was and about all these wonderful, warm, friendly, and sincere people who were called Cajuns.

The year was a turning point -- Cajun music was first presented to the outside world. It happened at the Newport Folk Festival. A three-piece group of old Cajuns was up against names such as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. The Cajuns played their first simple tune, "Grand Mamou," and before they were halfway through, an audience of 10,000 gave them a standing ovation.

This experience did two things. First, it reinforced the passion that had kept the fire burning in the musicians' hearts. They came home with newspaper clippings and stories about the reception at Newport that surprised even the local non-Cajuns. Second, it called outsiders to come to Louisiana to search out all things Cajun. And this had a legitimizing effect on the people down here. The outsiders came down in droves, not for things they could see or hear back home but for the things the Cajuns had not allowed the Americanization process to destroy. What was once considered a stigma was now considered an asset -- to be Cajun.

The Americanization process has not been completely successful down here; it has taken its toll, influencing many people who have become a caricature of Cajun. I find what is passed off as Cajun culture in major metropolitan areas rather yuppified. In the rural areas there are a lot of snake farms hawking the Hollywood version. But in isolated rural areas, there is also a very viable culture that exists without the slickness of the modern-day mainstream. These places can be found by getting off the interstate highways and searching out the small villages through the prairie.

It is important for the tourist to know that Cajun music is localized and is never found in the forested bayou or salt marshes but in the flat prairie region. Look at the old-timers, the first people to record -- they were from Crowley. Dennis McGee and Amede Ardoin were from Eunice. Musicians didn't live in the bayous or the marshes. Cajuns lived there, but the music came from the prairie. Where you find rice planted in Louisiana, you will find Cajun accordion music. The Germans brought the button accordion from their homeland, and some say they brought rice as well. My theory is this: Prosperity equals permanence, and permanence equals roots. Having been raised on a rice farm, I know the topsoil in some places is 6 feet deep. The first settlers who came into this region could sustain themselves very easily in one spot and didn't have to move after the first spot was depleted. We also don't have big rivers. Big rivers bring in big industry and masses of people diluting the existing culture.

I don't think modern Cajuns are much different than they were in the past. Being a Cajun, a Mexican, a Native American, or any other ethnic group -- it's not about one certain aspect of that culture. It's not about whether or not you play music, or eat spicy food, or speak a certain language. You can be a mute and still be an example of that culture. It isn't the person who wears costumes consisting of red bandannas, white rubber boots, and big straw hats with a plucked rubber chicken hanging from his belt. That isn't Cajun either. It's about having roots or a foundation. It's about having roots that were cultivated in good times and bad times. And because of devotion and love, those roots sink deep, deep, deep and produce a strong, strong, strong tree, which gives protection and comfort to all those who come into its embrace. It's a matter of vision, being from a certain ethnic minority. It's about how you see yourself in your environment and how you relate and function in that environment. It's about having a deep sense of the past in order to know your direction. It's about having respect and love for the things that make you who you are and prevent you from being someone else. It's not about being crowd-pleasers. It's about being natural.

-- Marc Savoy

Marc Savoy supports his Cajun heritage through the craftsmanship of accordions, as a musician with the highly acclaimed Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band and the Savoy Family Band, and by keeping Cajun community traditions alive.