I call it the Cajun Carousel, this mass of fais do-do-ing humanity under the big Dance Tent at the 2006 Rhythm and Roots Festival.
The music was Cajun: Rooted in the Acadian ballads of French-Catholic Canada, transplanted to Louisiana and steeped in the native Creole and Zydeco. Heavy on accordian, fiddle, slide guitar and washboard with a soulfully infectious beat and soulful vocals.Other acts at the festival included The Savoy Family Band, Curley Taylor, the Horseflies, Steve Riley and the Mamu Playboys, Marcia Ball, Los Lobos and Dr. John. Not a bad note was played.
The dancing was Cajun: The one-step jig, the two-step jitterbug and waltz.
The mood was sublime, if tinged with sadness: It was the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the death and destruction in Nawlins, the home of Cajun culture.
Laissez les bons temps rouler!
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The DF&C and I haven't made it all the way back to Kiko's House from this wonderful if somewhat soggy Labor Day weekend jaunt to the Rhode Island coast, but I had to share.I had to share the fact that I didn't think of George Bush or Iraq for two whole days as I basked in the glow of several thousand like-minded Cajun music lovers, to the last person good humored and polite. Even the drunks fell down in style.But alas, the real world beckons and Kiko's House will resume a full course of blogging in a day or two.
Soc au' lait.
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