Allons dance
“Every year, people come to the Cajun Festival from all over the county. The first question they ask when contacting us is ‘What bands are you going to have?’†said Bob Caswell. “Once they find out who we’ve scheduled, they’ll plan their entire vacations around this one-day event – regardless of the price of gas.â€
The brainchild of Lakehills’ Caswell and Barbara Engle, the 28th annual Cajun Festival begins at 11:30 am, Saturday, Sept. 27, at the Lakehills Civic Center on Park Road 37, and the fun doesn’t stop until 10 pm.
Caswell takes great pride in the topflight traditional Cajun music offered in the past at the fundraiser. However, he’s always looking for ways to improve the popular festival – the biggest Cajun Festival in Texas. To that end, Caswell has added two zydeco bands to this year’s musical lineup.
“We used to book only traditional Cajun bands from Louisiana, but we wanted to something different,†he said in a recent interview. “Zydeco music and dancing is totally different from the traditional Cajun and we think people will really enjoy it.†Described as “some of the best party music in the world,†Zydeco music is Cajun music influenced by Louisiana’s black culture.
Zydeco made its first appearance at the Cajun Festival in 2005, the year hurricanes Katrina and Rita played havoc with the slated musicians’ traveling plans. “They really wanted to come here and play the festival, but they were stuck in Louisiana because of Rita,†Caswell recalled. “It really put us in a bind.â€
However, Cedryl Ballou, originally from Lake Charles, Louisiana, and now of Waco, helped save the day. That year, he and his band, Zydeco Trendsetters, first rocked the Cajun Festival. This year, they’ll bring their special brand of zydeco with a “side order of funk†to the Gazebo Stage from 2:15 until 4:15 and again from 7:30 until 10 pm.
“I first heard T-Broussard play in Lake Charles and was very impressed with his music and stage manner,†Caswell said. “He and his band are making their first appearance at the Cajun Festival this year.†T-Broussard and the Zydeco Steppers, will play at the Fais Do So Pavilion from 1:30 pm until 3:30 pm, and from 6 pm until 7:45 pm.
The traditional Cajun and zydeco bands will alternate musical sets in the Fais Do Do Pavilion and the Gazebo Stage. “We want to play both styles of music against each other,†Caswell said. “If people prefer one style of music over another, they’ll have two choices.
Back by popular demand will be the Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band of New Orleans.
Music came to Daigrepont very early – as a musical tradition. At the age of five, he received his first guitar from his father, and by 10, Daigrepont was strumming merrily on a five-string banjo. After attending the annual Festival Acadiens in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1978, he decided to make the French accordion his Cajun instrument of choice.
“Bruce was the first young musician who started the resurgence of traditional Cajun music,†Caswell explained, noting the musician is “bi-lingual†– which means he speaks English as well as Cajun French.
“The first time he appeared at the Cajun Festival, Bruce asked me if I would like him to sing in Cajun French, I told him, ‘I don’t just want it, I demand it’,†Caswell said. “He loved that. A lot of places only want him to sing the lyrics in English.†Caswell added, “Bruce thinks like me. He is passionate about his Cajun music and heritage.â€
Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band will appear at the Fais Do Do Pavilion from 8 pm until 10 pm.
Noted Cajun humorist and historian, Rodney Thibodeaux returns to the Cajun Festival with his band, Tout Les Soir. From noon to 2 pm, he’ll intersperse Cajun history and heritage with traditional music at the Gazebo Stage.
The musical lineup kicks off with the Band-Aids Jazz Band and the Medina Lake Second Line Dancers at the Fais Do Do Stage from 11:30 am until 1:15 pm.
Additionally, beginning at 4:45 pm, Caswell, assisted by Thibodeaux and Tout Les Soir, will offer an oral history and demonstrations of Cajun dancing on the Gazebo Stage.
“Over the years, people have always asked questions about the origins of the music and dance style,†Caswell said. “This year, we’ll take the music and dancing from when it began in the 1920s, through the Cajun two-step of the ‘40s and ‘50s to the ‘60s and ‘70s when Creoles and African Americans began zydeco.â€
Pete and Kathy Spomoni of Slidell, Louisiana, will demonstrate Cajun rock and the lecture will culminate with a demo of Cajun jitterbug, a dance style that began in the late 1990s. “The younger generation of dancers began putting old-fashioned jitter bug moves to Cajun music,†Caswell said.
Without a doubt, Saturday, Sept. 27, will provide plenty of opportunities for Cajuns – no matter what their ethnicity – to hit the floor and dance the day and night a way. As Caswell noted, “It’s important to have good bands.â€
All proceeds will benefit the Medina Lake Betterment Association, Inc. Admission is $8. For more information, visit www.cajunfestival-medinalake.com.
Next week: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!â€
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September 11th, 2008 by Ragin Cajun /
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