Search - Various Artists :: Cajun Dance Party: Fais Do-Do

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