Way back up in the woods among the evergreens
There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood
Where lived a country boy named Johnny B. Goode"
We are in Louisiana! What did we come for? We came for the Music!
What Music did we come for? C-A-J-U-N.
Well we are as deep in Louisiana as you can get. We been through the swamp and we been through the fields and now we hit the heartland, the capital of Cajun Music.
Its 10.30 on a Saturday morning, but the music has been playing since 9.00.
We are in a town called Mamou. We are in a bar called Fred's Lounge. Its been here since 1946 and it is a room, some chairs a bar and a band plus about 100 people who are having fun. They are here to listen to the band and talk and drink and DANCE.
Sally and I entered by the back door and were warmly greeted by a man in a check shirt - you would have thought we were old friends, or cousins. The only problem was we couldn't hear him because the roof was being lifted by the band (no I do not know what they are called). We squeezed past some dancers and I found Sally a chair and we sat for a bit tapping to the great rhythms. 3 or 4 people came up to us and started talking as they passed us. One woman was from Lafayette, who had moved to north of New Orleans and then come back. She was the daughter of the the original co-owner of the bar (not Fred, the other one).
Tante (aunty) Sue came round,wearing a pink Fred's Lounge T-shirt and talked. Now she owned the place, but insisted on swigging what I think was whisky from a small hip flask sized bottle, and offering it to everyone else around, She confided in me that she was 79. I later learned that she sells the stuff, but every bottle you buy she opens and takes a swig from (no I don't know why, apart from the obvious, that she likes to drink). But she was most generous and welcoming. Tante Sue later came tound offering pieces of free boudin to everyone. What is a boudin? - well, it's a fat sausage served hot which tastes like a cross between haggis and spicy (chilli hot) sausage. Very different. A couple of girls then told me that they lived about an hour away and came there quite often. A total stranger came along and left her camera with Sally to look after and then started chatting away. I told her she need not worry as I pointed to to at least four other cameras that had been put on the table as other people had gone on to the dance floor.
When I eventually made it to the bar, a tall woman just said 'Irish', to no one in particular. After that I found out that she had three kids, an ex husband, came from Mamou, moved up to Lake Erie and had now moved back down and was I ready to move on to the next bar. Being polite, I said I thought that was a great idea and pointed out that Sally was waiting for her drink. She wished me well and sent her regards to Sally. Meanwhile the music just kept beating out. Conversations only happened between numbers. During numbers people talking looked a bit like vampires (bit of an allusion to Halloween I suppose), as you had to get right up to the ear of the person you were talking to,and repeat it twice to be heard above the band. The room was probably about 20x30 ft. The drummer played loudly, the band was amplified to match the drums. Oh it was loud, but above all the Cajun rhythm just drove through everything, you couldn't help but bounce along to it. I couldn't resist buying a couple of T-Shirts, with their message from the management written on the back 'Please do not stand on the tables, chairs, booths, cigarette machines and the jukebox.' By about 1.30 we had had enough and left by the same back door, saying goodbyes to the people we had met. Well, actually it was 'au revoir' and 'excuse moi s'il vous plais', because all these pleasantries were conducted in French.
As we left a trolley arrived and a large number of people fell off the bus, some in bizarre and gaudy outfits, carrying glasses. What was this - a party? a wedding? No, merely a Boudin Tour. Yes I know I can hear your ask. OK, they were really part of a Mardi Gras Krewe from Lafayette! They thought it was about time they got started celebrating Mardi Gras (yes, next April). So they had set off with their Xanadu King and Xanadu Queen and a large number of their Krewe, who are and all girl Krewe, in order to ........ well I' not quite sure what! Just have a party on a bus and Fred's Lounge was on their agenda. So they went in (after a lot of fun on the grass outside) as we came out.
After this we returned to the sanity of our trailer. We are now having a rest, because tonight it is Cajun Music Part 2 '. We are off to the Liberty Theatre in Eunice hopefully to go to a live radio broadcast. We Will tell you more later.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment