What happens when three of the most important figures in the Cajun renaissance get together to play Cajun music? Well, for starters, it sounds real good.
The only problem, it seems, is actually getting the trio together.
Accordion builder Marc Savoy is a staunch iconoclast disinterested in mainstream American culture, fiddler Michael Doucet runs the road leading progressive Cajun band BeauSoleil, and author Ann Allen Savoy, Marc’s wife, has spent much of her time compiling the outstanding reference book “Cajun Music: “A Reflection of a People.”
A common passion for traditional music fuels the Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band, and the heat the band generates is the subject of producer/director Ed McKeon’s “Pour on the Pepper,” a one-hour documentary available on home video.
More celebratory than revelatory, the film takes viewers on a leisurely ride through the trio’s intertwining histories.
The film opens with a shot of Doucet alone, fiddling in a chair on an old wooden porch. In an interview segment, he explains he was first drawn to Cajun music in the late ’60s in part by the era’s spirit of rebellion and a desire to be un-American.
Marc Savoy was also part of what Doucet describes as a transitional generation of Cajuns, one that went to college and then back to the roots. A shot of a sign on the door to the Savoy Music Center in Eunice offers insight into the accordionist’s character. It reads: “No Soul, No Service.”
Rhythm guitarist Ann Savoy echoes the band’s philosophy during an interview segment. “I think we draw from the past because the past speaks to us in every part of our life: the way we eat, the way we dress, the way we see things. Just our whole vision is that way, and the music goes with it.”
The acclaimed outfit has recorded a trio of albums together, and their style mixes tried-and-true two-steps and waltzes with expressive instrumental solos. “The whole thing is nothing about how technically fancy you can play,” Ann says. “You’re not supposed to do that at all. … And you’ve got to relax. If you’re not relaxed, you can’t do it right.”
The group began as friends, Ann explains, and their musical relationship evolved over time. At first, she says, Marc couldn’t relate to Doucet’s soaring, adventurous fiddle style.
“I want my reputation to be based on the fact that we do play old-timey traditional music without all the glitz and glamour and the structured feeling of modern music,” the accordionist states flatly during an interview segment.
Later in the film, however, he acknowledges the uncanny power of the music the band creates. “It’s almost like a spiritual communication between the three of us, you know. There’s this thing that’s happening that we’re a part of, but yet we’re not in control of,” he says. “It’s far out. And it’s a lot of fun.”
Well-paced editing keeps the music playing during many interviews and shots of archival photos and environmental scenes in and around Eunice.
Live performance footage includes sets at a backyard crawfish boil and in the Lagniappe Tent at the 25th annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, where the trio was augmented by a bassist and drummer.
Performances shot at home capture a husband-wife vocal duet as well as a tune featuring Marc on second fiddle. Fans will appreciate the intimate vibe of these numbers, though the harsh lighting in the living room segment breaks the mood of the film’s otherwise solid production values.
The video, as well as “Dewey Balfa: The Tribute Concert,” is available from Motion, Inc., for $24.95 plus $3 shipping. Call (800) 522-1322 to order or for more information.
His music lives on … When Tommy Comeaux died in a cycling accident Nov. 8, he didn’t take his music with him.
“Traditional music is music of the people,” fiddler Michael Doucet said during a press conference announcing the establishment of the Dr. Tommy Comeaux Endowed Fund for Traditional Music in the University of Southwestern Louisiana School of Music. “Ordinary people, but special people,” Doucet continued. “And this represents Dr. Tommy Comeaux.”
The noted multi-instrumentalist and pathologist received four Grammy nominations for work with Doucet and BeauSoleil. The fund’s goal is the creation of the Dr. Tommy Comeaux Endowed Chair for Traditional Music, a position at the university focusing on the preservation and perpetuation of American music, with special emphasis on the indigenous music of the Acadiana region.
The Dec. 26 “Medicine Show” concert at Grant Street Dancehall featured six bands Comeaux played with: Native Sons, The Basin Brothers, The Clickin’ Chickens, Coteau, BeauSoleil and Sonny Landreth. Money raised at the gig and from the sale of signed “Medicine Show” posters will become the cornerstone of the endowed fund.
Programs sponsored by the endowment will perpetuate Comeaux’s legacy of involvement toward the betterment of the community and region. The fund will sponsor scholarship, community performances and instruction in traditional musical forms by eminent figures in the field, creating a living monument to Comeaux.
The endowed fund will provide added focus to the university’s study and promotion of the region’s music. Establishing the chair requires raising $600,000 to be matched with $400,000 in state funds, forming a million-dollar principal. The chair will be awarded on a three-year, rotating basis.
Tax-deductible contributions can be sent to: Dr. Tommy Comeaux Endowed Fund for Traditional Music c/o USL Office of Development, P.O. Drawer 43410, Lafayette LA 70504. The USL Office of Development can be reached at (318) 262-1188. Donations also are accepted at the Acadiana Arts Council, 704 Lee Ave., Lafayette LA 70501, (318) 233-7060.
“His word was as good as gold,” Doucet said in the “Medicine Show” program. “Tommy created community wherever he went. … His strings are silent now, but his generosity and friendship endure in the hearts of all who knew him.”
