Mamou is a town in Evangeline Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 3,242 at the 2010 census, down from 3,566 in 2000.
Cajun music, an emblematic music of Louisiana played by the Cajuns, is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada. Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem with the Creole-based zydeco music, both of Acadiana origin, and both of which have influenced the other in many ways. These French Louisiana sounds have influenced American popular music for many decades, especially country music, and have influenced pop culture through mass media, such as television commercials.
James Floyd Soileau is an American record producer.
Michael Louis Doucet is an American singer-songwriter and musician best known as the founder of the Cajun band BeauSoleil.
Austin Pitre was born in Ville Platte, Louisiana. A Cajun music pioneer, Pitre claimed to be the first musician to play the accordion standing up, rather than sitting down. Along with his band, the Evangeline Playboys, Pitre recorded Cajun dancehall hits such as the Opelousas Waltz.
Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys are a Cajun band from southern Louisiana. The band formed in 1988 and has since recorded 10 albums, nine of which are on Rounder Records.
Marc Savoy is an American musician, and builder and player of the Cajun accordion.
Dewey Balfa was an American Cajun fiddler and singer who contributed significantly to the popularity of Cajun music. Balfa was born near Mamou, Louisiana. He is perhaps best known for his 1964 performance at the Newport Folk Festival with Gladius Thibodeaux and Vinus LeJeune, where the group received an enthusiastic response from over seventeen thousand audience members. He sang the song "Parlez Nous à Boire" in the 1981 cult film Southern Comfort, in which he had a small role.
C. C. Adcock is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and blues rock musician, noted for his cajun, zydeco, electric blues and swamp pop-influenced sound and for his efforts to preserve and promote swamp pop music. He's also a Grammy-nominated music and film producer and film and TV composer.
Nathan Abshire was an American Cajun accordion player who, along with Iry LeJeune, was responsible for the renaissance of the accordion in Cajun music in the 1940s.
The Cajun French Music Association is an association dedicated to the promotion and preservation of Cajun music and culture.
The Courir de Mardi Gras is a traditional Mardi Gras event held in many Cajun and Creole communities of French Louisiana on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Courir de Mardi Gras is Louisiana French for "Fat Tuesday Run". This rural Mardi Gras celebration is based on early begging rituals, similar to those still celebrated by mummers, wassailers, and celebrants of Halloween. As Mardi Gras is the celebration of the final day before Lent, celebrants drink and eat heavily, dressing in specialized costumes, ostensibly to protect their identities. In Acadiana, popular practices include wearing masks and costumes, overturning social conventions, dancing, drinking alcohol, begging, trail riding, feasting, and whipping. Mardi Gras is one of the few occasions when people are allowed to publicly wear masks in Louisiana. Dance for a Chicken: The Cajun Mardi Gras, a documentary by filmmaker Pat Mire, provides great insight into the history and evolution of this cultural tradition. In popular culture, two HBO series also make reference to the tradition.
Cajun music has its roots based in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada, and in country music.
The Balfa Brothers were an American cajun music ensemble. Its members were five brothers; Dewey on fiddle, Will on fiddle, Rodney on guitar, harmonica, and vocals, Burkeman on triangle and spoons, and Harry on Cajun accordion.
The Grammy Award for Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album was an honor presented to recording artists at the 50th, 51st, 52nd and 53rd Annual Grammy Awards (2008–2011) for quality zydeco or cajun music albums. The Grammy Awards, an annual ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, are presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".
Christine Balfa is a Cajun musician and founder of the group Balfa Toujours known for performing vocals, guitar, and the triangle. She is the youngest daughter of Dewey Balfa.
Cajun fiddle music is a part of the American fiddle music canon. It is derived from the music of southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas, as well as sharing repertoire from the Quebec and Cape Breton Island traditions. It is one of the few extant North American folk music traditions rooted in French chanson. According to Ron Yule, "Louisiana fiddling had its birth roots in Europe, with fiddling being noted as early as the 1400s in Scotland". Zydeco music is a geographically, culturally, and musically related style.
David Greely is a professional fiddler from south Louisiana.
Captain Gumbo is a Dutch band formed in 1987, which plays mostly zydeco and Cajun music; that is, music in the French traditions of the U.S. state of Louisiana, based around the diatonic accordion. In 1990, their version of "Allons à Lafayette" reached No. 30 in the Dutch singles chart. The band was still active as of 2013.
