A Delightful Overview of Cajun Music

“Le Gran Mamou: A Cajun Music Anthology” is a delightful overview of the recorded history of one of America’s most engaging rural folk styles: the accordion and fiddle-accented Cajun music of southwest Louisiana.

Partially funded by a grant from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the 72-minute album, released by the Country Music Foundation, features 25 selections that were recorded by Victor and Bluebird Records between 1928 and 1941.

As explained in an excellent 16-page booklet that accompanies the album, record companies noted the rural appeal of country music and blues in the late ‘20s and began looking in the South for other genres to market. The search led to what Charlie Seemann describes in his liner notes as “an isolated and quite distinct strain of rural music made by the French-speaking Cajun people.”

The Cajuns were descendants of the French Canadians who had been forced to leave their homeland of Acadia (now Nova Scotia) in the mid-1700s by the English. In Louisiana, the new arrivals mixed freely with French and Spanish colonials, African slaves and native Americans--and the music reflected the varied heritage.

By the time the first Cajun record was made in 1928, a typical Cajun band, Seemann reports, included fiddle, accordion and, in many cases, a guitar. The lyrics were generally in French and mostly touched on some aspect of Cajun life.

Though the recording quality of many of the recordings is quite primitive, the 25 tracks--by such colorfully named groups as the Hackberry Ramblers and Happy Fats & His Rayne-Bo Ramblers--offer a valuable look at the evolution of the sound, including the influence of country music and Western swing.

The CD is available through most large record stores or can be ordered by phone through the Country Music Foundation in Nashville: 1-800-255-2357, Ext. 1.

IN THE STORES: Sammy Davis Jr., the Kingston Trio, Peggy Lee and Jerry Lewis are the latest artists saluted in Capitol Records’ highly recommended “Collector’s Series.” Each CD contains at least 20 songs and comes with a booklet containing photos, new liner notes and a brief history of each selection.

The Davis package, recorded in the late ‘40s, is especially interesting because it shows the late singer-dancer-actor going through all sorts of novelties and styles--from imitating famous singers of the day to doing an R&B; song in the upbeat style of Joe Turner under the alias Shorty Muggins to tap dancing on the record--in trying to get his first hit.

Added notes: The Lee collection, which contains 25 songs, only includes recordings from Lee’s first tenure at Capitol in the late ‘40s. After switching briefly to Decca Records, Lee returned to Capitol in the late ‘50s and had such hits as “Fever” and “Is That All There Is.” Those tunes will be found on Vol. 2 of the “Collector’s Series.” The material on this first volume includes such hits as “I’ll Dance at Your Wedding” and “The Old Master Painter” (also featuring Mel Torme and the Mellomen).