"CAJUN DANCE PARTY" - Fais Do-Do

This album is a bit misleadingly titled. What you get is a collection of some of the absolutely earliest and most important commercial recordings of Cajun music. The biggest price of the whole thing, however, is that you get the first four recordings of Amede Ardoin with Dennis McGee, which is in itself worth the CD, but doesn't exhaust it. A definitive recording. (Amazon)The title of this stirring if low-fi collection may be misleading (it actually consists of vintage 78s recorded between 1929 and 1934), but the emotional heft is undeniable. Like country music and the blues, Cajun music expresses the sorrows and regrets of daily life in a celebratory catharsis. Cajun is arguably the world's most familial music, and the majority of the tracks here are devoted to the three Breaux brothers and their wonderful sister, Cleoma, whose prickly pear of a voice cuts clean through husband Joseph Falcon's accordion accompaniment. The music is recorded in duet or trio formats, and all these performers made a mighty passionate and free-ranging racket for their time. You can hear French, Celtic, Appalachian, and Western swing influences in tracks by Dewey Segura, a singer regarded as highly for his bootlegging as for his accordion skills. And Creole accordionist Amedee Ardoin's duets with white fiddle legend Dennis McGee demonstrate an early and inspiring cultural exchange. --Richard Gehr, Allmusic

trax:
1. Ma Blonde Est - Amedee Breaux 2. Les Tracas Du Hobo - Amedee Breaux 3. Two Step De Mama - Amédé Ardoin 4. La Valse Ah Abe - Amédé Ardoin 5. Two Step De Eunice - Amédé Ardoin 6. Two Step De Prairie Soileau - Amédé Ardoin 7. Rosalia - Dewey Segura 8. You're Small And Sweet - Dewey Segura 9. Far Away From Home Blues - Dewey Segura 10. Fais Do-Do Negre - Breaux Freres 11. Tiger Rag Blues - Breaux Freres 12. One Step A Marie - Breaux Freres 13. Mazurka De La Louisiane - Breaux Freres 14. Le Vieux Soulard Et Sa Femme - Cleoma Breaux 15. Marie Buller - Cleoma Breaux 16. Mon Coeur T'appelle - Cleoma Breaux 17. C'est Si Triste Sans Lui - Cleoma Breaux 18. Madam Atchen - Amédé Ardoin 19. Taunt Aline - Amédé Ardoin 20. Le Blues Du Petit Chien - Breaux Freres 21. La Valse Du Vieux Temps - Breaux Freres 22. La Valse D'Auguste - Breaux Freres 23. La Valse D'Utah - Breaux Freres
...served by Gyro1966...