The tradition of Creole fiddlers in zydeco music upheld by such greats as Bebe Carriere and Canray Fontenot is one that is often neglected in contemporary recordings of zydeco music. Indeed, the majority of today’s leading men and women in zydeco music are known for their skill as accordion players.
The names Geno Delafose, Keith Frank and Rosie Ledet are synonymous with virtuoso skill on the accordion. In contrast, musicians like Michael Doucet and Christine Balfa are just two musicians among many who have maintained the centrality of the fiddle in Cajun music performance. Moreover, in recent times, collaborations like those between Riley and Delafose or Balfa and accordionist Bois Sec Ardoin have often blurred the already ambiguous line between zydeco and cajun music genres.
Add to these alliances the likes of la Famille Viator of Eunice, Louisiana and you have plenty of ingredients for a simmering roux of musical ventures which call into question our contemporary fascination with labeling and separating the musical output of Southwest Louisiana.
“We call it Louisiana French music and we think that is the best way to describe it,” opines Moise Viator, who along with his younger sister Alida Viator, recently released Mo Belle Creole, their debut CD on the Acadiana Records label (see record review in this issue).
The CD features a variety of music styles but focuses mostly on traditional Cajun and Creole songs and Creole jazz. While Alida plays fiddle and provides most of the lead vocals, Moise shines on lead guitar. Moise, an 18 year-old Louisiana State University at Eunice student, adds that he and sister Alida, 15, conceive of the CD as reflecting time when Creole and Cajun music were intertwined as one musical unit.”
The brother and sister team have been playing together professionally for about eight years. At this year’s Jazz and Heritage Festival, the two were part of a demonstration on violin-making traditions in Southwest Louisiana. Along with their mother Debra-Helen Viator, Moise and Alida are carrying on this time-honored tradition usually reserved for those of earlier generations. Indeed, the Viator family are practically the only members of their generation depicted in photographer Jake Jacobson’s new book, Heart & Hands: Musical Instrument Makers of America. The family began making violins about five years ago after Alida approached legendary Washington fiddle maker Adner Ortego and asked him to teach her his craft.
“My sister loved the sound and wanted to learn to make fiddles, so she ragged Mr. Ortego until he realized she was serious and decided to teach her.” Ortego, who appears on the duo’s CD, has been quietly making violins for years although he rarely sells any of his creations.
He has amassed nearly 75 high-quality, handmade violins at his home in Washington and was no doubt pleased when the young Alida expressed an interest in maintaining this traditional craft Like Ortego, the Viators build their violins using time-honored and meticulous techniques that involve an intricate and highly skilled carving process. Each piece of the ViatOr fiddles is handmade and then carefully tuned using an old Creole method the Viators call “tate avec simagri,” creating a rich and resonant sound that is seemingly unachievable using any other method. Each of the violins contains images of Louisiana life ranging from horses, to hoodoo skulls to birds. The violins also are often stained using exotic colors, making for a truly unique instrument in both craft and appearance.
The Viators debut CD features a host of notable musicians, including Earle Brown of The Chosen Few Brass Band, D’Jalma Garnier of File, David Greely of Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, and Mitch Reed who has played both with Balfa Toujours and The Mamou Prairie Band. Zydeco musician Beau Jocque also lends a helping hand along with MoYse and Alida’s father Etienne Viator, who plays the accordion, harmonica, banjo-mandolin and drums and even does a bit of singing. The release is truly a family affair as the family’s matriarch Debra-Helen Viator, also provides assistance on fiddle and background vocals.
The majority of the songs on Mo Belle Creole are performed in some dialect of French. Both Moise and Alida grew up hearing Cajun French in the home and speak it themselves. The duo add that they really wanted to make a record that had the Creole language in some songs. We want to help bring the language back into popular music. We are also very interested in Creole jazz, not just for instrumental playing, but in terms of singing in the Creole language as well.”
“The CD has been very well-received [in Southwest Louisiana]. It has received a lot of airplay and we’ve been visiting a lot of the local radio stations to talk about the CD so we’ve been lucky to get airplay on both Cajun and zydeco shows,” adds Moise. The duo recently returned from a four-day jaunt in Canada and will be appearing at both the upcoming Festivals Acadiens in Lafayette and the Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Festival in Plaisance. The young musicians seem well aware of the uniqueness of their musical style.
Indeed, while their mother can be credited for providing much of the encouragement for their forays into fiddle making, their father has been instrumental in fostering their respect for the French language in Louisiana. Etienne Viator, a Loyola Law professor who divides his time between New Orleans and Eunice, is currently working on a Creole dictionary project with Tulane University professor Thomas A. Klingler. Because of this project, Alida and Moise had the opportunity to be exposed to many songs from the Library of Congress’ collection of early recordings of Cajun and Creole songs, including many songs from the Alan Lomax Collection.
In fact, for those of us who share the Viators’ interest in Louisiana’s rich heritage of traditional Cajun and Creole songs, Rounder Records has just released a very important compilation of music from the Alan Lomax Collection. This collection features some of the most important recording of early Cajun and Creole songs ever, along with essential selections from more recent recordings. “The Classic Louisiana Recordings,” released in two parts, will feature songs collected by Alan Lomax and his father, John Lomax in the 1930s, and later by Alan Lomax in the 1980s.
The Lomax collection has been essential to the revival in popularity of traditional Cajun and Creole music in recent times by musicians like the Viators. The recordings feature some of the best and oldest versions of early Cajun and Creole ballads along with some extraordinary samples of solo instrumentation on accordion and fiddle.
These recordings are a must-own for anyone interested in the early roots of Cajun and Creole music and it is clear from the example of the Viators that these musicals traditions are still very much alive and well in Southwest Louisiana. Adieu’ Danielle Bias is a native of Mamou, La. and is currently writing a master’s thesis about zydeco.
