a FRENCH MUSIC article

Cultures of Acadiana
a look at the French, Cajun, Creole, and Native American cultures of south Louisiana
(a project of Carencro High School - 721 West Butcher Switch Road, Lafayette, LA  70507)

Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, December 29, 1998

Accordion contest held as early as 1929

by Jim Bradshaw


Iry LeJeune's uncle, Angelas, remembered "a big accordion playing contest held in Opelousas in about 1936," but he may have been a bit late in his recollection, or the contests may have been a regular affair.

Fiddler Dennis McGee also recalled a contest in Opelousas during an interview with Ann Allen Savoy, but did not give a date.

" I played a lot with Angelas LeJeune," McGee said in that interview. "We went to Opelousas and won a contest. Me, Angelas and Ernest Frugé. We all went over there together. And the next day Abe Boudreaux from Opelousas took us to New Orleans to make some records."

An Opelousas newspaper reported on such a contest on Sept. 27, 1929. This was a year after Joe and Cléoma Falcon recorded their first Cajun record, so recording sessions could have been one of the prizes, as Angelas recalled.

A part of the newspaper report is reproduced in Savoy's book, Cajun Music, A Reflection of a People.

They are coming in wagons, on horseback, in hay burners, and in the original gas buggies invented by Uncle Henry, many, many years ago. Along the roadside you occasionally pass a real "Cajun" practicing with his accordion and yelling an age-worn French melody, sang (sic) by the fireside scores of years ago by his forefathers, as he practiced for the accordion all-state contest being held by the Opelousas Herald, local weekly newspaper of this city, and Opelousas businessmen, with Sheriff Charles Thibodeaux as general chairman.

About the Court House square where the Louisiana champion accordion player will be selected tomorrow, Saturday, at 4 o'clock may be seen many "country folks" who have traveled for miles to hear their favorite songs, used for generations at country dances and parties.

Some are clothed in bright colors and even those whose hair is becoming singed (sic) with streaks of grey are lively and ready to shake a mean foot as the triangle "ting-tings," the fiddle screaches (sic) out gay notes, and the accordion players push and pull the favorite musical instrument of the Acadians, descendants of the tribe of Nova Scotia, immortalized in that tale of love handed down by Longfellow and dedicated to his heroine, Evangeline, which has since been filmed and thrown on the screen as the most sensational and heart-rending story of love ever created by mortal pen.

This article is copyrighted © by the Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser and is used with permission.  This web site was originated through a grant awarded to Carencro High School (Joel Hilbun/Bobbi Marino, Grant Administrators) by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education from the Louisiana Quality Education Support Fund - 8(g).