Skip to main content

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



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

British Invasion - 1960s

I wanted to declare “Kick out the jams, mo’fos!” as a signpost towards the message in this week’s Al compás del mundo radio show, but that actually came about a little later. As humanity descended ever deeper into the Cro-Magnon state, Iggy Pop and the punks claimed that honor. What we have here instead, is a post-WWII let’s shake up the political order a bit, and no, not everyone has signed up to be an unconscious consumer attitude. There’s something afoot with these lads. Not exactly revolutionary fervor, but most certainly promoting a change in the general way of things. Recalling Che Guevara’s famous quote “Do Wah Diddy Diddy”, the Animals, Yardbirds, Rolling Stones et. al. pouted and preened – some more than others – in a way that hadn’t quite been done before. Youthful vigor ensued. These groups pushed the evolutionary chain of popular music a step further and we’re all better off for it.  Set list Al compás del mundo programa #183, 6-5-25 - The British Invasion, 1960s 01 Yar...

Funk and Soul

  Al compás del mundo - programa #169, 2-27-25, Funk and Soul   01 The Commodores - Brick House 02 Tower of Power - Drop It In The Slot 03 Parliament - Ride On 04 Sly & The Family Stone – Frisky 05 The Webb People – I’m Sending Vibrations 06 Ruby Delicious - Rock Steady 07 Mandrill - Git It All 08 The San Francisco TKOS – Herm 09 Ohio Players - Fire 10 Parliament - Mothership Connection (Star Child) 11 Kool & The Gang - Jungle Boogie 12 Chico and Buddy - A Thing Call the Jones 13 Little Ann – Possession 14 Lafayette Afro-Rock Band - Time Will Tell 15 Parliament - Ain't Nuthin' But a Jam Y'all   What did James Brown mean when he said “we’re gonna have a funky good time”? This “funky” of which he spoke, was it strictly musical (and danceable), or maybe sexual, sociable, or even political? Or maybe a little bit of each? Funk, funky, funkify, funkadelic, funkalicious…all pointing at the pleasure principle…a new dialect for the “blue...

Nuyorican boogaloo cha-cha-cha

 I’m labelling this week’s playlist as “Nuyorican” music, the lion’s share of the players from Puerto Rico or of Puerto Rican ancestry.  Two notable exceptions are Joe Bataan, a Filipino-African American, and Mongo Santamaria born in Cuba. What they all have in common, however, was centered around the music scene of New York City where African American and Latino musicians forged a common ground in creating “boogaloo” dance music, mixing elements of R&B, Soul, and Latin dance rhythms. The boogaloo genre was fairly short-lived, enjoying popularity during the 1960’s before giving way to salsa, in what was largely an East Coast and Caribbean impulse. “Watermelon Man” and ”El Watusi” were early and major boogaloo hits, but truly, most of the titles included in the program were popular recordings in their day, whether cha-cha-chas like Tito Puente’s “Oye Como Va”, or GFyEN’s guajira. I’ve gathered them here for an hour’s worth of revelation for those too young to have heard thi...