I Went to the Dance
Director: Les Blank
Year: 1989
Rating: 7.0
Aka - J'ai été au bal
On the fringes of American music - deep in the bayous and small towns of
Louisiana is Cajun and its cousin Zydeco music. Most American regional music
has disappeared - either swallowed up and integrated into popular music or
simply vanished under the onslaught of national TV and radio that homogenized
so much of our culture. But because of its roots going way back and
the language they speak, this part of the country has been able to maintain
its culture, food, speech and music more than most places in the country.
As one person points out - this is almost another country. Back in 1755 the
British in Canada drove out the native French from Nova Scotia and they made
their way down to Louisiana where they settled among the Creoles who were
of French or Spanish ancestry mixed with Caribbean blacks. The language they
speak and sing in is a dialect of French that few Frenchmen would recognize.
Out of this came a very distinct musical form that takes pieces from all
the cultures and creates a rhymical beat that is made for dancing. Cajun
music is more the province of the original French from Canada while Zydeco
has a bit more of a blues feel and is music favored by the Creole population
- but to my ears there was not a huge difference between them. They
all use the accordion, fiddle, guitar and some form of percussion.
It is directed by Les Blank who spent much of his life documenting music
on the edges of our time - music that is obscure and artists that are disappearing.
This documentary gives some basic information on the history of the music,
some of its stars but mainly he just lets them play music and it is great
to listen to.
