I want to dance in Lafayette

We love hearing from our students about their work in the Southern Folklife Collection as they explore our holdings and find artifacts of expressive cultures they are often experiencing for the very first time. In this post we hear again from SFC student Zach Gossett. Enjoy.
78_3435_005Pulling this Columbia disc out of stacks and putting it on the turntable definitely was my first experience with the excitement, the intrigue, and the joy that no doubt inspires record enthusiasts and collectors; this was a piece of history in my hands, the first commercial Cajun recording. While researching another Cajun artist, fiddle player Rufus Thibodeaux, I briefly searched “Allons à Lafayette” from his record Cajun Fiddle (FC1111). Not only did I discover who originally recorded the tune, but also that we had a copy of that recording on 78 rpm disc.
Accordion player Joe Falcon and guitarist (and future wife) Cleoma Breaux recorded “Lafayette (Allon a Luafette)” on April 17, 1928. The many Cajun song-titles bearing “Waltz (Valse)”, “Dance”, or “Two-Step”, emphasize danceability of Cajun music as integral to the style. “Allon a Luafette”, as it appears written undoubtedly in a French dialect, is a (Cajun?) two-step. I’ve never danced it, but I feel an unwavering rhythmic drive. I enjoy it, so much.
Joe Falcon and Cleoma Breaux: “Lafeyette”
We have the 78, call number 78-3435 here at the Southern Folklife Collection. There is a lovely waltz on the other side.