A Slight Error [If I don't do it who will? ]
On a bright, sunny morning on my 25th birthday, October 1, 1965, I walked into a
local bank with neither funds to deposit or withdraw. I was there to ask for a loan
to build Savoy Music Center. The receptionist ushered me to a loan officer seated
at his desk–not in a private, enclosed cubicle, but rather in the middle of the
room where everything being said could be overheard by anyone.
I was relieved to see that this was someone I knew fairly well, so I greeted him in
French since I knew this was the language he had grown up with. Almost
immediately he put his finger to his lips and whispered, “Speak English please!”
Growing up in Acadiana I was very aware of the stigma associated with our
French heritage. But to see the sudden fear in his face that his colleagues might
hear him speaking his native language–that was a rough awakening to my reality.
It struck me that his position in this bank could be jeopardized if it was
discovered he was Cajun. I felt sorry for him that his position was so precarious
and worried that if everyone in this bank was like that, what chance was I going
to have of getting a loan to build a business founded upon Cajun culture??
Once I announced the size of the loan I needed and my plans for paying it back,
he, probably preferring to let someone else deal with such a ridiculous request,
quickly led me into the office of the bank president. Apparently the amount of the
loan piqued the president’s interest, so we began discussing payback plans. I
explained that my plans were to have a retail music business and also
manufacture Cajun accordions. I had began this craft as a hobby in 1960. I told
him the retail price of my handmade instruments and from this information he
quickly calculated the quantity of sales needed to pay back the loan. He wanted to
be sure I was aware of that sum. I told him I was very aware of how much it
would be and that I had factored that amount into my operational costs.
The next question he asked was, “How are you going to keep your business viable
once you make these sales?” Not fully understanding how low his esteem of Cajun
culture was, I simply answered that I would continue with retail sales while
building accordions. I’ll never forget his “Harrumph!” response to my answer. I
think this one grunt was his summation of many questions to which he did not
have the answers, the principle one being, “What are you going to do after you
flood the market?”
To this bank president, the market for my product was very finite and wouldn’t
exist for any extended period of time. I'm sure that even in his wildest
imagination he would've never believed that someday in the distant future this culture,
to which he attached so little value, would be embraced by people from
around the world causing a new word to be coined-“cultural tourism”
Nevertheless the loan was granted after I agreed to put up, as collateral, the land
where my store was to be built.
As I was leaving the office I overheard, with my extremely sensitive ears, his
remark to one of his colleagues, “Within 90 days he'll be out of business and we'll
have a valuable piece of real estate belonging to the bank!”
2022-1966= 56 years x 365= 20440 days-90 days =20350 days longer than his
prediction!! Slight error!!
I've often wondered since then if his lack of judgment could possibly have been
the reason for his short career as bank president.
The other harbingers of bad news was for my grand opening when three friends
offered their prediction that, like the bank president’s, my business longevity
wouldn't be much more than 90 days. Their consensus was that it wouldn't be
successful because it was located too far out of town. I would like to quote
something from page 125 of my book, Made in Louisiana: The Story of the
Acadian Accordion, as written by the editor and staff of UL Press in Lafayette,
Louisiana:
When we began working with Marc on the creation of this book, we made a
request online for people to send us photos of their handmade Acadian
accordions. In a matter of hours, we received a flood of responses from around
the country (Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, Connecticut,
California, Oregon, Alaska, Maine) and the world (England, Ireland, Wales,
France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Japan). The accordions on the end
sheets of this book are but a small portion of those we received, and we wish to
thank everyone for their time and generosity in sending the photos.
After 56 years of being here I’m still wondering which town I was too far from.
It has always been a mystery to me how the locals could never understand the
beauty and value of their heritage. Even before the full impact of tourism arrived,
they passed on without ever understanding the potential of what their ancestors
had lovingly left in their care. Apparently very few of the descendants attached
any value to what was left in their care and made the decision instead to pursue a
heritage that was presented by the media nationwide- a heritage, which to me
was actually more American than America itself. Very few local people, if any,
saw their heritageas a renewable resource that had value, much less something
that could be harvested. Because of this misconception they also failed to recognize
the fact that success in any commercial venture could very easily coexist with heritage
and could do so to a much greater success than without it. It wasn't a stigma- it
was an asset!! Because this was so obvious to me, I always felt certain that
eventually the day would come when people would wake up and recognize this
fact. I have lived to see the word Cajun change from having a condescending
connotation to becoming a word signifying honesty, expertise, community, and
representing the uniqueness of Louisiana-a word that today is included in
business enterprise titles ranging from oilfield services, building contractors,
restaurants, university curriculums, car dealerships, sports teams, food products,
clothing, beverages, even out of state nightclub marquee’s featuring “Cajun” go go
dancers.
Today a very small percentage of the younger generation of Cajuns are also
beginning to see the error of their elders and are working towards preserving
what remains of their heritage -especially the younger generation of musicians
who realize that playing Cajun music is a ticket to travel the world while getting
paid well to do so.
Of course I understand the reason for things being the way they are, especially
since I have endured my share of this ostracizing myself but, regardless, I was
never tempted to deviate from my course. Perhaps it is because of my dislike of
both radio and TV that I don't listen to either and, as a result, I was spared the
indoctrination process so effectively inflicted upon the public mind
subconsciously by the media.
I say these things in the hopes that maybe one day some young person may read
these words and decide to closely re-examine the legacy of what their parents
ignored and compare it to what is happening in the current United States of
Generica.
If ever someone feels that they need a reason to work towards preserving their
heritage, whatever it may be, turn your television on for about five minutes!!
After the store was built I suddenly realized that I too, like the bank president,
had made a “Slight Error”-several in fact. Even though I had carefully planned
what I thought would be all the hidden cost of construction, I quickly saw my
bank account diminishing to the point that there wasn't going to be much left to
pay for inventory. I knew I could start my business with a minimal inventory but
I also understood that after adding the shipping cost from the nearest musical
merchandise supplier which was in San Antonio, Texas, I would be left without
any operating capital. What to do??The answer to my dilemma came from a
dear farmer/ friend of the family that
owned several large trucks that he used for hauling rice to the mills. His rice
harvest was over so he graciously offered me the use of one of these trucks.
San Antonio Texas, 400 miles from Eunice Louisiana= a long, rough drive in
such a big truck!
Fortunately my grand opening, November 19, 1966 was a success with at least
half of the inventory sold by that afternoon. I now had a small profit which I
could invest in more inventory. Working towards increasing my inventory while
slowly getting out of debt would be my focus for the next 10 long years. I quickly
realized that building accordions was the one sure thing that would consistently
generate a profit but for this to happen it would involve bigger and better
woodworking equipment so that I could increase my production. Another major
investment to pay for!
Needless to say my early years were a financial nightmare but, even so, probably
because of my enthusiasm, it never entered my mind that I would not eventually
succeed. I always felt deep down in my heart that someday in the distant future,
the heritage I loved would also be embraced by people away from here. At the
time I wasn't really sure exactly how this outside interest would come about
much less how this would benefit me financially- it just seemed to me that if I
could make this happen that would be, in itself, a good enough reason for doing
what I was doing. I thought that if I could accomplish this then everything else
would fall into the right places and the day would come, when the puzzle I was
working so hard to piece together, would eventually reveal a beautiful picture.I
had too many financially slow days to remember but it always happened that, just
when I thought I couldn't sustain my endeavor any longer, some salvation would
appear out of nowhere making it possible to continue my struggle. One of these
god sends came in the form of an elderly gentleman from north Louisiana that
walked into the store one morning saying he had heard I built accordions and
wanted to know if I would be interested in rebuilding and restoring his collection
of old antique reed pump organs.
He made it very clear that he was willing to pay very handsomely for my services.
Old pump organs had reeds and were pretty much nothing more than a very large
accordion. Since my accordion production wasn't what it would eventually
become in the future, I accepted his offer. One organ repair job eventually led to
six more. This work, however profitable, was very time-consuming and
meticulous to the point that I soon found that an eight hour day was not enough
time to work restoring antique organs , run the store, deal with sales and build
and service accordions .My work day would usually start at 5 AM, and continue
until about 9 PM. I had a lot of bills to pay, they were my responsibility, and I was
in it for the long haul so I had to make it work. Weekends I enjoyed playing
with local bands for dances and that was a welcome relief from the drudgery of my
long week. The second light that appeared at the end of the tunnel for me was an
invitation in 1972 to attend, as a craft person, the National Folk Festival held
annually at Wolf Trap National Park near Arlington Virginia. The National Folk
Festival, first organize in 1934, is an organization dedicated to the preservation
and documentation of folk and traditional arts in the United States. That year
there were at least 25 musical groups from around the country representing the
music of their heritage. The Cajun band chosen to perform that year was “ D L
Menard and the Louisiana Aces”.In the eight years since Cajun music had been
presented at the Newport Rhode Island Folk Festival, the interest in Cajun music
on the east coast had grown exponentially at the rate that it now had a very large
cult following nationally and internationally. Presenting my accordion craft to the
festival attendees in 1972 was destined to be “my foot in the door” that would
secure the insatiable demand out of state for my Acadian accordions. Imagine
how pleasantly surprised I was to discover that these festival attendees were
people from all over the world and, unlike the bulk of the population back in
Louisiana, actually saw Cajun culture as an asset instead of the stigma it had
become. I was also pleasantly surprised to find myself in the company of many
other craftspeople and musicians from all over the United States representing
traditions that were unique to their culture. It was such an eye-opener for me to
discover that so many other people were also striving to keep their identity from
falling into the great American melting pot. It was really an inspiration for me to
be in the company of people like that and I think it really reinforced the belief in
myself that I was on the right road after all. During the week of the festival I spent
my days demonstrating my accordion making craft but my nights were devoted to
jamming with DL Menard. I had met him several years earlier when he and his
band were playing at the Circle Club in Grand Coteau and from that moment on I
was one of his biggest fans.
The following year, 1973, I was invited again to Wolf Trap Park but this time as a
musician playing with Dennis McGee and Sadie Courville. They were both old
enough to be my grandfathers and I was extremely honored to be chosen to
perform with these two icons. They were both dear friends of my parents so I had
known both of them since birth. As a youngster I had spent many winter
afternoons sitting in front of the fireplace at my grandfathers listening to both he
and Dennis play fiddles together and talk about the good old days. In those days
Dennis McGee was a tenant farmer for my grandfather. Maybe not a good farmer
but an excellent fiddler!!
During this festival we were approached by the renowned folk musician, Mike
Seeger, informing us that he was organizing a 10 day tour of the west coast
sponsored by the National Endowment of the Arts. The tour would consist of
three groups of traditional folk musicians including Tommy Jarrell, and the
group” Martin , Bogan, andArmstrong” and wanted to know if McGee, Courville,
and Savoy would be interested in being the third group. It was an amazing
opportunity to travel, it paid very well, and it sounded like an amazing
opportunity to expose Cajun music to the west coast. Dennis , probably in his late
80s or early 90s, was ready to leave at a moments notice but Sadie and I both
had businesses to organize so it would be sometime before we could give an
answer. Eventually we organized our responsibilities and decided to join the
tour.This was Mike Seeger’s first attempt at organizing what he referred to as an
“ice breaker tour” since it was made up of nonprofessional folk people playing
traditional music that, for the most part, had never been presented to a west coast
audience.If it proved to be well-received it would very likely be followed by many
other tours of the same type featuring different musical groups. There was a lot
riding on the success of this tour because no one was really sure how an audience
would respond to a bunch of authentic roots musicians playing the music of their
heritage-music that these audiences had never heard of before. This was before
the days of folk music clubs so there were no other venues available to present
such an eclectic musical event. The alternative would be for universities in major
cities to sponsor, publicize, and organize concerts in their auditoriums. That
proved to be very appealing to the universities because, since the NEA was
funding everything, that would allow all the performances to be open to the
public with minimal admission charge. Besides their music, the Cajuns also
offered the added attraction of linguistic interest to the university's French
department. Imagine their surprise when they discovered that in 1973 there were
still 1 million people in Louisiana speaking French as an oral language .Long
story short, the tremendous success of this “icebreaker tour” was another foot in
the door for me because it would put me on the folk music radar screen to travel
the world for the next 50 years playing Cajun music. I had always felt deep in my
heart that Cajun music would someday be embraced both nationally and
internationally and that this interest could very likely develop into a demand for
Cajun musicians to travel and fill that niche. However I never imagined it to grow
to what it has become, much less that it would take me along with it.
This opportunity of touring the world with Cajun music was the third and
brightest light “at the end of the tunnel” and was the one thing that would
eventually make it possible for me to wake up one morning and to take notice
that there was something jingling in my pockets besides a bunch of keys. By far
the best thing that came from all this traveling was meeting a young girl that also
wanted to do the same things I was doing but, best of all, she wanted to do them
with me.
This tour, and also subsequent tours, would always begin with the participants
rendezvous-ing at the University Auditorium in Salt Lake City Utah where they
would present a performance of the entire tour.The destination the following day
was Seattle, Washington for a performance in the spectacularly beautiful
Museum of History and Industry. The next day our tour of the west coast would
begin with us traveling in two 15 passenger vans playing in museums and
university auditorium in major cities in Washington,Oregon, and all the way
down through California with our final destination being the famous San Diego
University Folk Festival. From there it was back home! After 10 days of playing
our music to audiences that appreciated and admired us for being who we were, it
would have been easy to come back home deceiving myself by imagining that I
was a folk music “star.” However, that never crossed my mind because ever since
I started playing music,I had always considered that it was the music itself that
was the only star and that I wanted nothing other than being it's humble steward.
Nevertheless it wasn't easy to come back home. Back to what?? Back home where
Cajun musicians were considered substandard citizens?? Back home to a
community where the bulk of the population had very little interest in their
heritage?? I had no choice but to come home because my roots here were too
deep.I wouldn't have survived the transplanting. However I came home very
inspired by my first tour and decided to become a self proclaimed cultural
activist for my heritage with a mission to try and promote what I loved. I was
encouraged to do this because so many of the people we had played for on the
tour had demonstrated their love for it also. I felt that now I had a few allies in
these out-of-state people.
To say that this tour was an eye opener for me would be the understatement of
the year. It was also an eye-opener for the people who attended our concerts since
very few of them knew anything about Cajun Louisiana. The Cajun music portion
of the tour was definitely the one that received more enthusiasm than the others
groups. This music was so new to them that they pronounced the word Cajun as
“Cahoon”.
The publicity advertisement for this tour, especially the posters giving the date,
time , location, and performers , listed the Cajun group in much smaller letters
than the others and also at the very bottom of the poster.
The following year, 1974, I was invited by Dewey Balfa to play fiddle with him and
the Balfa Brothers to do the same West Coast tour. Included in this tour was the
internationally famous Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys . Because of the
previous tour’s success, and the unprecedented response to Cajun music, the
Cajun band was now the featured attraction with the other groups listed in
smaller letters towards the bottom of the poster. During this tour we all began to
notice how the seated audience responded to the Cajun rhythm by almost
dancing in their seats. It was in one of these concerts that Dewey suggested to the
audience that the next time a Cajun band came through town they should
sponsor a dance instead of just a sit down concert. It was out with the concerts
and in with the dances!!! Suddenly state wide folk festivals and other folk music
venues interested in sponsoring Cajun dances began appearing on the west coast
from Alaska to San Diego. The golden years of Cajun music had begun out-of-state.
Nearly every week we found ourselves heading west for weekend
performances to such an extent that it quickly generated an interest in local
musicians to not only learn to play the instrument but to also learn the French
lyrics to the songs. One of the first music camps that was organized to
accommodate this interest in teaching Cajun music to non- Cajuns was in Port
Townsend, Washington. I was extremely honored to be invited to its first festival
and, even more so ,to be invited with my family many times over the years. It
would eventually become known as the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, an
annual event held every July 4 weekend. Today it is recognized as being one of
the premier music festivals in the US.The NEA , National Endowment of the Arts,
also began sponsoring goodwill missions to other countries to showcase the
musical diversity of United States. Myself, DL Menard, and fiddler Leonel Le
Leux participated in one of these as a seven week State Department tour through
11 countries beginning in Guatemala down to Brazil.
After 50 years traveling the world with Cajun music ,and being one of the few
surviving members of these very successful“icebreaker tours ,I have always been
amazed how few, if any , of the community were aware that this was happening
with Cajun culture . I think this was due mostly to the fact that none of the tour
members possessed the necessary vanity and ego that would have otherwise
informed the local media of this information. Perhaps they were informed, but
since “heritage” wasn't held in very high esteem by the local media, it was
ignored. If this information had been publicized by the local media, it would have
had a very positive legitimizing effect in developing an interest in the younger
generation to pursue playing music of their heritage. It took 50 years for this to
happen. Better late than never!!
Most Foreign
If I had to name the most foreign of all the countries we performed in it would
have to be the Folk Festival in Adelaide, Australia. I had previously built a few
instruments for clients there but, even though there was some interest, it never
developed into repeat performances like it did in other foreign countries. Very
likely the reason being, since the distance is so enormous, importing either
performers or accordions is prohibitively expensive.
Most Enthusiastic
Our most enthusiastic receptions and most frequent repeat foreign performances
have always been in England.
Best Dancehall
The best dancing crowd that we ever played for would have to be our many, many
performances at Ashkenez Dance Hall in Berkeley, California.
Most Prestigious
The most prestigious place that I was ever invited to perform would definitely be
the private exclusive men's club known as“The Bohemian Grove” in northern
California-twice with two other Cajun musicians and four times accompanied by
my two sons Joel and Wilson.
Wildest
The wildest scene we ever performed for would undoubtably be a dance we
played during our participation in the Norwegian Folk Festival. Fortunately this
was my first and last experience of having to play behind the safety of a screen
netting between us and the dancers. I had previously participated in many wild
parties but the alcoholic frenzy of what we witnessed that night would make even
Cajun Mardi Gras celebrations seem to be nothing more than a Sunday prayer
gathering.
Today, as a result of all these pioneering Cajun bands traveling the world, Cajun
bands made up of non-Cajuns are found from the west coast to the east coast of
the US-not to mention the”London Playboys”, the “Yokohama City Aces”, the
“Croissant Cajun Band”, etc.
Most embarrassing audience
Several years ago a wealthy winery owner from California came to Lafayette,
Louisiana to establish a distribution center for his wines. To introduce his label to
the local people, he decided to sponsor a gala evening offering complementary
dinner paired with his wines. The invited guest were chosen by a local
organization and were intended to represent the most successful and influential
people of the area. Being an avid supporter and fan of Louisiana Cajun culture he
chose Cajun music as the entertainment for that evening mistakenly thinking that
it would be the guest’s preferred genre
The minute the guest’s began arriving I realized immediately that this wasn't
going to be a fun evening for the band nor a successful evening for the
gentleman's winery. Our presentation was completely ignored by the audience
without even a glance in our direction. It seemed as though they wanted no
connection with what we were doing. Our host was fluent in French and I noticed
that during the evening he would circulate amongst his guests attempting to have
a conversation in French. As the evening progressed I could tell he was getting
more and more confused to the point of eventually declaring to us “I can't figure
out who these people are. No one seems to know a word of French and they all
adamantly dislike Cajun music. I've asked them what kind of music they listen toand they all say that they prefer country and western. I find that very unusual
because back home none of our society have any interest in that. Who are these
nouveau riche??”
Most accomplished Acadian Accordion owner
This would undoubtably be the virtuoso Philip Bruneau of Montréal Canada.
(TO BE CONT.)