1983 documentary explores Cajun music and its connection with the Maritimes featuring the music of Dewey Balfa

Dewey Balfa and Nathan Abshire

Dewey Balfa explains the origins of Cajun music to school children in this clip.

The Acadians, exiled from the Maritimes, settled in Louisiana taking their culture with them.

Many Maritime Acadians have explored their artistic connections with the Louisiana Cajuns.

Halifax blues artist Joe Murphy said he spent a summer in Cajun country learning about the music. Murphy is Acadian from New Brunswick so he wanted to find out about his roots. While there, he bought a handmade Cajun accordion, learned the music and now regularly features Cajun Zydeco music in his act.

“Jolie Blon” in the video is the most popular Cajun song. It is often called the Cajun National Anthem.

The video includes rare footage of Nathan Abshire and Rockin Doopsie along with Dewey’s nephew Todd Balfa on rhythm guitar.

Dewey Balfa (1927 – 1992) was an important artist is bringing Cajun culture a non-Cajun audience.

He appeared at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival at a time when interest in the music was strictly regional.

After that appearance he and his brothers formed the popular Cajun group, the Balfa Brothers.

Amazon.com has several of their CDs still in print, including the popular

The Balfa Brothers Play Traditional Cajun Music, Vols. 1-2.

The clip is from the documentary available on VHS from Amazon.com. The filmmaker Yasha Aginsky has this film and others available on his own website in DVD format.

For more about the film, check out Folkstreams.net You can stream the film at Folkstreams. Some clips are also on YouTube.

Video copyright Yasha Aginsky or to the distributor, Aginsky Productions

Here’s Joe Murphy playing at the Harvest Blues Festival in New Brunswick Canada – the heart of Acadian culture.