Al compas del mundo - programa #79 - Cajun, Zydeco and New Orleans

Clifton Chenier

Shown here. - I tried to pick a range of styles for this week’s program within the two genres of Cajun music and Zydeco. And in doing so was unable to resist throwing in a few New Orleans classics that fit neither of those descriptives. What’s a program on the sounds of Louisiana without Professor Longhair going to the mardi gras, yet another version of (Laissez le…) Bon Ton Roulay (“Let the Good Times Roll”) here by Clarence Garlow, or Sugar Boy Crawford singing his hit Jock-a-Mo (followed by “fee non nay” which at least one Google music pundit tells me is “Chokma Finha – Ane” (a mixture of half Native American, half Creole) “It's a very good year!”) The French heard throughout is a distinctive archaic dialect found in southern Louisiana and would confuse the average Parisian stumbling through the French Quarter, especially after a round of sazeracs or Vieux Carrés. Regardless, the music reveals a party attitude that doesn’t quit. Whether Zydeco, coming out of the Black community, or Cajun from the Whites, the music makes it plain that – like Cuban singer Celia Cruz once sang - “Life Is a Carnaval.” No one, at least in this country, embraces that philosophy more rambunctiously than the good people of New Orleans and their rural music-loving cohorts. -J.H.

Run list for Cajun, Zydeco and New Orleans first broadcast 6-01-2023

01 Professor Longhair - Go to the Mardi Gras

02 Amédé Ardoin - Blues De Basile

03 Beau Jocque and The Zydeco Hi-Rollers - Richard's Club

04 Canray Fontenot and Bois Sec Ardoin - Bonsoir Moreau

05 Clifton Chenier - Cliston Blues

06 Jo-El Sonnier - Evangeline Special

07 Clarence Garlow - New Bon Ton Roulay

08 Cajun Country Revival - You Won't Be Satisfied

09 Austin Pitre – Contredanse

10 Joe Falcon - Allons á Lafayette

11 Link Davis - Big Mamou

12 Lee Benoit – Valerie

13 Iry LeJeune - Jai Été Au Bal

14 Magnolia Sisters - Paulina Tate

15 Sugar Boy Crawford - Jock-a-Mo

16 Boozoo Chavis - Paper in My Shoe

17 The Balfa Brothers - Parlez nous a boire

18 Cleveland Crochet - Sugar Bee

19 Amédé Ardoin - Eunice Two-step

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