The process of setting up a Cajun band is like for any other band, involving dedication, time, hard work, single mindedness, frustration and excitement. However there are some things to consider which are unique to the music. Being English myself I can talk about making the shift from English to Cajun but I guess that similar challenges would also apply to moving from the other British traditional styles.

The Cajuns were French settlers in the Novia Scotia area, which they called Acadie. In 1755 the British governer there took it upon himself to eject them and many found their way to Southeren Louisiana and Eastern Texas where they settled. The music contains influences from, among others, traditional French, British, Spanish, German and African styles. It’s primarily dance music which latterly is tied up with a pride in their culture and language which Cajuns are discovering. Putting it rather simply, Cajun music is the style played by white folks, Creole music is Cajun played by black folks, Zydeco is black music with a whole different style and culture. Cajun was played at house dances - bals de maison - until the forties when dance halls started to open and the dance occasion known as the fais do do became popular. Nowadays the music is played at both, and can also be found in bars, restaurants and festivals.

In addition to the artists and bands in Louisiana and the wider US there is a lively British and European scene of Cajun music and dance, with some extremely good players and lots of keen dancers to support them.

I am often asked why I play music which is not from my own tradition. First of all I love it because you can instantly (well, after a long haul, actually) transmute yourself from a Morris dancing nobody into a charismatic rock star of stage and screen without having to release your grip on your Hohner. As an accordeon player I found the style is one which you can never stop learning - heaven knows it was hard enough to start. I also find that, though writing lyrics in French, I can express emotions in a way which might sound over sentimental in English. Most English people haven’t gone through the hardship that the Cajun people have experienced but there is no reason why we can’t use the music as a vehicle to express our own joy and sadness. Playing from the heart is so important in Cajun music - listen to Eddie LeJeune to hear passionate Cajun playing and singing.

A melodeon playing friend of mine returned from a recent Cajun accordeon workshop muttering "You Cajun musicians must have your brains wired the wrong way to be able to play that". He wasn’t far off the truth; Cajun rhythms and song structures are very different from those in English partly because of the strong African influence in the music. This can be a major challenge to English traditional players because it is a whole different way of playing to that for, say, Morris or country dance music.

Cajun melodies themselves don’t present too much of a challenge, being generally simpler than English, but they are often highly decorated, especially by the accordeon. In Cajun there isn’t a strong distinction between a rhythm section and melody section - all instruments, including the vocals, contribute to the rhythm of the music.

The number of bars in a number is often different to that in English folk music. I’d like to tell you how many, but Cajuns can change them on the fly! You can hear this especially on Octa Clarke and Hector Duhon recordings, where the vocalist lets out a Cajun yell and the music chugs along for an extra few beats until he gets it out of his system.

The Cajun vocal style is traditionally high and clear, usually very nasal, although with the assistance of the PA system artists are able to sing in lower, more mellow, keys. C, G, D and A are the most common (dictated mainly by the accordeon) but a few bands are using E and B flat, for the lower vocals. Harmonies are not strictly traditional but are now common. One thing against them is that they can prevent the vocalist improvising, a very Cajun thing to do.

The Cajuns usually dance two steps (fast ones) and waltzes (slow ones), although in the old days there were polkas, mazurkas, contredanses and many other styles which are now rarely played. In England (but not Louisiana) the jitterbug - a kind of limping jive - predominates. The waltzes differ from the ballroom style in having the emphasis on beats three and one i.e ONE-two-THREE-ONE-two-THREE-ONE etc. A strong African influence gives the rhythm in the two steps a rolling and insistent flavour: the guitar and drums will set up a BOOM-chick-BOOM-chick- overlayed by the accordeon playing a da-da-DA-da-da-da-DA-da-da-da-DA-da-da-da-DA-da-da-da-. The fiddle might set up a sliding DA-AH-da-da-DA-AH-da-da on top of all that. There is great scope for putting in a lot of syncopation: da-da-DA-da-da-da-da-da-DA-DA-AH-da-da-da-DA-da-da-da- etc. the accordeon player is usually the main perpetrator of this and other abominations to the English ear. But it gets people dancing big style.

There are as many different styles of Cajun music as there are ‘gators in a swamp, ranging from very traditional like Eddie LeJeune and the Morse Playboys to very modern like Wayne Toups and Zydecajun, or Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys. If you don’t have a clear idea of what Cajun music is then it’s worth listening to a wide range of music in order to form some opinions. Swamp pop tends towards smooth lyrics and bouncy light arrangements, or schmaltzy crooning, as favoured by such as Belton Richard, whereas the string band sound, influenced by Texas swing, has no accordeon and is the domain of bands like the Hackberry Ramblers and Harry Choates. In the UK my band, ZigaZag!, has gone for an upbeat rocking sound with strong traditional influences. Whatever that means.

The style you want to achieve will generally dictate the line up. Broadly, if you want a traditional sound then a typical line up might be accordeon, fiddle, acoustic guitar and optional triangle. At the other end of the spectrum would be accordeon, fiddle, electric guitar, bass, drums which would enable a more rocking sound. Having said all that, Walter Mouton and the Scott Playboys achieve what I think is a traditionally based sound with accordeon, fiddle, drums, bass, pedal steel guitar, so I guess it’s what you make of it.

A practical difficulty when recruiting would be the shortage in this country of good Cajun accordeon players, the brilliant ones having all been snapped up by bands. It’s not a mandatory instrument but for many people it’s synonymous with Cajun music and a band, in my opinion, would have to be pretty good on the Cajun style to get away with not having one. In Louisiana the most common type is the one row button accordeon with the four knobs on top. English players would call it a one row melodeon. It’s usually dry tuned (no tremolo) and the reeds are specially tuned so that it sounds true when playing in the second position (playing in G on a C accordeon). If you can’t run to a genuine Lousiana Acadian or Pointe Noir you can use a one row Hohner. The two or three row melodeon can also be used, they sound best if they have a bass voice. A piano accordeon tends to be rather smooth for Cajun, but don’t let it stop you, though.

Traditional Cajun drumming style is based around one beat on the bass, one on the snare. Try to get someone who sets up a clean groove and who doesn’t want to put in lots of frills and twiddly bits. Sam Murray with the Bearcats or Carol Wilson of ZigaZag are two of the best UK players I know. But Carol’s mine so back off, cher.

Cajun fiddle contains many influences but I would sum it up (and show an appalling lack of knowledge in the process) as containing strong elements of a slidy bluesy style and hillbilly mountain, with some uniquely Cajun stuff in there as well. Good players put in lots of rhythmic bow work all the way through to complement the accordeon. Our fiddle player Jim is great at this.

I talked earlier about the extra beats in the music. They tend to drive English guitarists - who like an ordered life - nuts. While we are with guitarists another thing that they can have a hard time with is that the accordeon and fiddle are the show off instruments in Cajun music. Traditional Cajun guitar is mainly rhythm and there is less scope for doing lots of fancy bits - it’s important that your potential recruit understands this. However just playing the rhythm is not the end of the story. Cajun music comes out of a culture and to play it well - which I assume you want to do - takes a lot of hard work and understanding. One guitarist told me "I’ve learned all I need to know about Cajun in six months". He hadn’t.

How I got ZigaZag! together was that I knew Carol (percussion) and Jim (fiddle) and liked their keenness for the music so they were in straight away. The grapevine couldn’t come up with a guitar player who was free so I advertised in a free ad paper and got twelve applicants, most of whom were good and were keen. Simon was the man who got the job. He comes from a Country and R and B background which seemed to help him pick up the style pretty quickly. He’s also just plain good.

There are still many people in Louisiana for whom French is their first language - lots of the older folks learned their English in school. Most Cajun songs are in Cajun French, which is real French but different from the Parisian. You can sing in English but I feel that it shouldn’t be overdone. A good source of lyrics are the books "Cajun Music - A Reflection of a People", by Ann Allen Savoy or "Yé Yaille, Cher!" by Raymond Francois. Listen to the old style recordings by the likes of Lawrence Walker, Iry LeJeune or Nathan Abshire for the pronunciation. Cajuns often assume that English players don’t understand the lyrics they are singing so to me it’s showing respect to them to at least learn the story of the song. If you can make announcements in French then when you get to play in Louisiana you will be great ambassadors for British Cajun music. Or you’ll say the wrong thing and end up feeding the crawfish.

As you might have guessed from how I recruited ZigaZag, my first priority was to find people who respected and liked the music. There are one or two bands who treat Cajun music as rather jokey and I don’t personally like such an approach. I am privileged to be in a band with Simon, Carol and Jim, who treat the music as it should be treated.

You don’t need to be technically brilliant to play good sounding Cajun (although there are some brilliant players around) but like all bands you do need to get people who work well together and who can produce a tight rhythm for dancing. And who are prepared to work on the understanding of how Cajun music differs from English/Irish/Scottish. Many Cajuns respect English players for our tenacity and ability to learn, and for our respect for their music. It is our duty, I feel, to do their music justice.

So you have got your line up and need to make it louder. Most Cajun gigs can be handled by a smallish PA. Larger venues like festivals will usually provide their own. ZigaZag has a 12 channel Fender mixer amp, 300 Watts per channel driving Peavey 1XT 12" speaker units. A monitor system is pretty essential for our line up - there is a lot going on on stage with all the instruments and vocal harmonies - ours is 75 watts and can be used as an emergency PA if the main one packs up. It’s actually very loud through good speakers. This set up can handle just about any dance gig that we would be asked to do. A crystal clear sound is the one we aim for, although when we are doing our job then no one is listening - they’re all dancing!

So now what are you going to call yourselves? The Spice Playboys? Lots of bands have ‘Playboys’ or ‘Aces’ in the title (eg. Mamou Playboys, Wandering Aces). However I promise that if you insert the word ‘Gumbo’ into your band name I shall personally release a bin bag full of Louisiana mosquitos at your debut gig. My favourite name is owned by a band in the Washington DC area - they’re called ‘Squeeze Bayou’. Geddit?

Types of gigs

You are going to be a seriously good band so you will be able to get gigs at Cajun Dance clubs, Cajun and Folk Festivals, Folk clubs, weddings, parties, World and Roots Music festivals, Arts Centres and pubs. Or you can promote them yourself. Ti-Fer, my first band, put on a masked Hallowe’en Ball in an East End Music Hall. It was wonderful fun and the bank manager didn’t complain, either. The Cajun dance club promoters - such as File Gumbo in London - are keen to book good bands, as are the festival organisers. There are Cajun and Zydeco festivals in the UK including, amongst other places, Gloucester, Lichfield and Bracknell.

Agents

There are three or four agents around who promote Cajun bands, the most well known being Access All Areas and Swamp Music. You should find their numbers in Cajun Times. General music agents don’t come up with many gigs but it only costs the price of an information pack to be on their books, and you might get a wedding or two out of it.

Demos

The usual rules about demos apply - tapes are acceptable but in today’s competitive market CD’s will be more likely to be played. Demos are a whole subject in themselves.

Advertising

You can advertise your band in Cajun Times, TMM, Folk Roots although, like most advertising, it takes second place to getting out there, gigging and networking (schmoozing to you).

The main dedicated Cajun magazine for the UK is the Cajun Times, which is free. Traditional Music Maker run regular Cajun spots and Folk Roots occasionally review recordings. Many of the bands also run mailing lists for their followers and you can contact them through Cajun Times. There are also useful Web sites: ours is at http://www.tifer.demon.co.uk

Useful Contacts

ZigaZag! Cajun Band: email philu@tifer.demon.co.uk

Cajun Times: Ron Knowles email: ronknowles2@cs.com

When you start your Cajun Band you will find out that it is the most fun you can have with your clothes on. It’s happy, infectious music which is guaranteed to get people dancing. Please remember that there is a whole culture behind it and I think it is important that we Brits treat it with respect. See you at the bal. Joue-la!