Lots of accordion happenings on the calendar this week — especially if you’re a fan of Cajun/zydeco music:
Mardi Gras (Tuesday in various locations) Tomorrow is Mardi Gras (aka “Fat Tuesday”) and the zydeco bands are out in full force across the country. Buckwheat Zydeco, Rosie Ledet, and CJ Chenier are just a few of the folks playing tomorrow. Check our Cajun/zydeco events page for more.
Beale Street Zydeco Festival (Saturday/Sunday in Memphis, TN) Didn’t get enough zydeco on Tuesday? This weekend, Beale Street turns into Bourbon Street as zydeco heavyweights like Keith Frank, Terrance Simien, and Roy Carrier invade Memphis.
Withrow Winter Wonderland Polka Dance (Sunday in Hugo, MN) It’s never too cold to polka! This once-in-a-lifetime event features Eddie Blazonczyk’s Versatones and the long-awaited reunion of the Dobosenski Brothers and the Cavaliers. The Dobosenski Brothers and the Cavaliers were one of the hot Minnesota polka bands of the 70s and 80s and haven’t played together in 25 years!
I’ve also added some often-requested features to the calendar itself. You can now search for events in your area — just type in your city and state and we’ll show you what we have listed. Also, when you’re looking at an event listing, we’ll show you other upcoming events in the same area. Check it out.
Of course, if you don’t find any events in your area or, worse, you know about an event but don’t see it on our calendar… tell us about it!
The ad wizards at Oscar Meyer recently held a nationwide contest to find a new voice for their “I wish I was an Oscar Mayer wiener…” jingle. After sifting through thousands of entries and public voting on twenty finalists, they finally have five winners — one of whom is eight-year-old zydeco accordion prodigy, Guyland Leday. We should see a TV commercial with Guyland and his accordion sometime later this year. In the meantime, you can watch Guyland’s winning performance on the Oscar Meyer website.
Led by Louisiana accordion maker Marc Savoy, the series covers the whole process step-by-step — from building the reed-mounts to fashioning the keyboard on through to attaching the bellows. Even if you aren’t planning to build your own box, it’s a fascinating look at how button accordions are built.
I couldn’t find any video clips, but there are extensive summaries (with photos) of each episode online. Did anyone out there catch the show? If so, leave a comment and let us know what you thought.
Next year’s Grammy Awards will include 108 categories ranging from Best Rap/Sung Collaboration to Best Surround Sound Album. And yet, despite the proliferation of categories over the years, there still isn’t one devoted to cajun or zydeco music.
Over the years, only a handful of cajun/zydeco musicians have won Grammys. Clifton Chenier, Queen Ida, and Rockin’ Sidney each won for Best Ethnic Or Traditional Folk Recording during the early 80’s, and Beausoleil won for Best Traditional Folk Album in 1997. This year, singer Ann Savoy (of the Savoy Family Cajun Band) was nominated for her collaboration with Linda Ronstadt, Adieu False Heart.
Establishing a cajun/zydeco category, though, would go a long way towards promoting and preserving the genre. Fortunately, there’s a campaign underway to create a Grammy category for cajun/zydeco. Led by Cynthia and Terrance Simien, the effort has gained steam recently as the number of cajun/zydeco recordings submitted for Grammy consideration rose to 40 this year.
According to Cynthia Simien, Grammy officials have recognized the campaign’s progress and promised to reconsider adding the category when they meet again in May. That’s great news and hopefully at this time next year, we’ll be previewing the first-ever nominees for Best Cajun/Zydeco Album.
I finally tracked down some clips of eight-year-old zydeco accordion prodigy Guyland Leday on the recent HBO special, The Music in Me: Children’s Recitals from Classical to Latin, Jazz to Zydeco. In addition to showing Guyland’s incredible talent, there are brief interviews with family members, zydeco star and friend Terrance Simien, and, best of all, some of Guyland’s young friends.
Unfortunately, I don’t get to watch much daytime TV; my daytime job really gets in the way. But I’m setting my Tivo to record Ellen this Friday so I can catch Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience performing as part of a special show on New Orleans. Even better: eight-year-old zydeco accordion prodigy Guyland Leday will also be there. If you missed Guyland on the HBO special earlier this month, be sure to check it out. He’s incredible.
Sometimes I feel like California just isn’t cutting it; all the accordion excitement seems to be in Texas. Case in point: the sixth annual International Accordion Festival starts Friday night in San Antonio with a cajun and conjunto kick-off party featuring the Gulf Coast Playboys and Mingo Saldivar.
And that’s just the beginning. The festival continues throughout the weekend with an incredible lineup of performances, workshops, and jam sessions featuring accordionists from all over the world. There’s the Renato Borghetti Quartet from Brazil, Les Primitifs du Futur from Paris, the Marian Pelka Trio from Poland, Helen Xu & Zongti Lin from China, and many more.
If you’re like me and you’re stuck somewhere besides San Antonio this weekend, you can still sample the sounds of the festival by listening to the clips below:
What were you doing when you were two years old? Making mud pies? Eating crayons? Tormenting your parents? Guyton Leday of Opelousas, LA, was like a lot of kids his age, with one exception: he was learning to play accordion, zydeco-style.
As the great, great grandson of the late Delton Broussard, Guyland clearly has the zydeco spirit in his blood. By the time he was four, he was already onstage playing with Zydeco Force, which features his great uncle Jeffrey Broussard on accordion. Last night, Guyland played Carnegie Hall in New York with an all-star zydeco band of friends and family (including Terrance Simien) to promote the documentary.
The show premieres tonight on HBO at 7pm, but will air a number of times there (and on HBO Family) this month. So set your Tivo now!
The sounds and smells of the bayou come to Fremont, CA, tomorrow when Ardenwood Historic Farm hosts the 10th annual Ardenwood Cajun/Zydeco Festival. I’ll admit to being taken in by the festival description in the Contra Costa Times that claims “the air will be redolent with crawfish etouffee, gumbo, fried beignets drenched in powdered sugar, and the joyous, rollicking sounds of accordion, fiddle, washboard and French-accented singing on Saturday.” I couldn’t get past the part about the beignets without drooling…
The Savoy Family Cajun Band headlines this Saturday’s show at Connolly’s on 45th. The Savoys are one of zydeco’s most famous families. Marc and Ann have played together for years as part of the Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band (with fiddler Michael Doucet) and they run an accordion store in Eunice, Louisiana, known for its Saturday morning jam sessions open to all (but only one triangle player at a time, please).
Can’t afford a brand-new Cajun button accordion? Try building your own! The DIY Network show 
Sometimes I feel like California just isn’t cutting it; all the accordion excitement seems to be in Texas. Case in point: the sixth annual 
What were you doing when you were two years old? Making mud pies? Eating crayons? Tormenting your parents?