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Archive Files of Cajun, Creole, and Zydeco Musicians |
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2006 and 2007 CDs:
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Click
here for high resolution photos of the Savoy Family Band on Flickr. Click here to go to Ann Savoy's Official Web Site. And here for the Savoy Music Center. |
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Here is Marc Savoy’s motivation for recording a CD consisting entirely of Cajun accordion tunes, accompanied only by rhythm guitar : “Ever since I began recording, I have always wanted to do a recording of my favorite old tunes—those that made me fall in love with Cajun music. I also wanted it to be un-cluttered, without many instruments so that it was possible to hear the accordion playing all the parts of the melody.” The liner notes to the 2006 CD Back to the Basics Savoy Style also include Savoy’s recollections of his grandparents, and, through them, the stories he heard about Amédé Ardoin, a frequent visitor to their farm. Dennis McGee was one of their tenants. One story reveals the identity of “Madame Edward” from the song “Petite et la grosse.” Savoy also describes the evolution of Cajun music and the changing role of the accordion when the Cajun music moved from house dances with just two or three musicians playing to dance halls with full bands. For more information and for a listing of the songs on the CD, including many not available on any other CD, go to the Savoy Music Center Web Site. The CD was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Joel Savoy at Studio SavoyFaire in Eunice. Even if you have listened to a thousand Cajun CDs, you may have never really heard the accordion the way you will on this CD: the “bass side” clear and distinctly underpinning the melody with rhythm and adding depth to the overall sound. There is nothing flashy on this CD: just a virtuoso performance by a musician whom many consider the greatest living Cajun accordionist. Marc Savoy is also a virtuoso maker of Cajun accordions. On this CD, you get to hear clearly what every reed and stop in his accordions can do. In 2007, Marc Savoy released Volume II of Back to Basics, titled Il Faut Que Ça Va. The CD offers 12 familiar tunes, except no tune is identified by name either on the liner or the CD. It's an opportunity to go back to the real roots of Cajun music and just listen to the accordion and the sound to which musicians added lyrics (the same tune has often become more than one song). This is not a performance in which the performer announces each song from a stage. Instead it's Marc playing his accordion at home for his own pleasure and ours. In the last cut, Marc speaks in Cajun French, describing his family history, how he became interested in the Cajun accordion, and why it is so important to preserve the Cajun traditions: iI faut que ça va. –David Simpson, LSUE, August 7, 2006; updated January 10, 2008 |
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