The first Creole
French recordings were cut soon after Joseph Falcon hit with
"Lafayette" in 1928. The best known early artist was Amadie (Amade) Ardoin, who was
affectionately calle Tite Negre, "the little black guy."
On record he had a delightfully crisp, clean, crying sound;
his singing and accordion styles were very much white cajun.
Ardoin was signed by Columbia in late 1928 after winning an
accordian and fiddle contest in Opelousas with Dennis McGee,
the fine Cajun violinist from Eunice. The tiny black accordionist
went on to record for Brunswick, Vocalion, Decca, Melotone,
and Bluebird, making such pure Cajun discs as "La Valse
De Gueydan" (Brunswick), "Les Blues De La Prison"
(Decca), "La Valse de Amities," "Les Blues de
Voyages," and "Oberlin" (Bluebird).
All told
he made some thirty recordings, fourteen of which have been
collated on a stunning Old Timey album, many of the songs are
anguished laments to a woman named Jouline.
According to McGee, Amadie Ardoin
was born around the turn of teh century in l'Anse Rougeau, a
tiny farming community between Euice and Mamou. He was seventh
of seven sons. Ardoin
and McGee met as sharecroppers on Oscar Comeaux's farm near
Chataigner, and in 1921 their boss encouraged them to play together
for house dances in the neighborhood.
When Comeaux sold his
farm, Amadie and Dennis moved to Celestin Marcantel's farm near
Eunice and began to develop their musical partnership. Apparently
Ardoin was not much of a worker in the fields, but his new boss
considered his music an asset. Several nights a week after the
day's work, Marcantel would hitch up the horse and buggy and
transport Ardoin and McGee to dances in the country.
After playing half the night for white
dances, Amadie would return to the black community, sometimes
alone, to sit in on dances that usually lasted until dawn. Canray Fontenot told fellow fiddler Michael Doucet: "Then
Amadie would really get hot. After playing for the white folks-
you know, two-steps and waltzes- he would get down on some blues
and just sing and sing.
he made up all those words and most
of the songs he played, they didn't come from anybody else.
he and my father Adam Fontenot would both play the old French
songs, old African songs and hollers, and then make up something
new, just their own."
Ardoin's popularity
may have transcended racial barriers, but times were not easy
for a black musician. Once
he suffered a severe beating at a Eunice outdoor fair. Eventually he succumbed to alcoholism, and in the late thirties
he was committed to the Louisiana State Institution for the
Mentally Ill in Pineville, where he died.
In June 1980 Amadie
was justly honored, with Joseph Falcon, at the Second Acadiana
Day at the Acadian Village in Lafayette. The crowds paid homage
to the two musical heroes while enjoying the boudin-eating
and pirogue-rowing contests, traditional Indian dances by
children's groups, and, of course, the Cajun and zydeco music.
Amadie Ardoin
had a mighty influence on many Cajun and zydeco artists, particulary
Iry LeJune, Austin Pitre, and Clifton Chenier. A cousin, Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin, is carrying
on Amadie's tradition as leader of the popular Ardoin Family
Band. Their traditional musique Creole, more Cajun the zydeco,
has been recorded by several folk labels.
Bois sec recalled
Amadie's impact on his career for writer Robert Sacre: "Little
by little. I learned the different dances and practiced every
day on my accordian. I continued practicing until I was good
enough, but there is an enormous difference between playing
for pleasure and at a ball. Then I followed my cousin Amadie,
who traveled a lot.
He Was a professional musician and did
not do any other work. I did not see him very often until
we began to the balls together, I played all the balls he
played in the neighborhood- bals de maison as they are called. One day it was one house, another day another, be it a wedding,
birth, anniversary, or simply a Saturday night dance, le fais-dodo.
Mamou, Basile, Lawtell, Eunice.... With him I learned to play
really well. But that did not last long because my mother
did not wish me to become a professional musician, and did
not approve of these trips. Then Amadie became ill and he
played less and less."
