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Feufollet lets music speak for itself
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The Advocate, Feufollet lets music speak for itself >>
Lafayette’s Feufollet got much acclaim and attention when its members were talented children playing and singing traditional Cajun-French music. The group performed at festivals in Louisiana and elsewhere in the United States, traveled to Canada and released three CDs.
Nick Spitzer, host of the nationally broadcast, New Orleans-based radio show, American Routes, praised Feufollet’s mastery of the French language.
Barry Jean Ancelet, professor of folklore and Francophone studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, cited Feufollet as excellent, exciting musicians who just happened to be cute kids. Balfa Toujours fiddler Dirk Powell said the young band raised the bar for bands of all ages.
Feufollet co-founder Chris Stafford, now 21 and a Francophone studies student at UL, was doing what came naturally. He grew up with Cajun music and participated in French-language immersion programs from kindergarten on.
“I quickly became fluent in French and really was interested in it,” he recalled. “My family loved Cajun music and listened to it around the house. I always was aware of Cajun music and always interested in learning it.”
Stafford got his first accordion when he was about 9. It was an extra instrument that his uncle, then an aspiring accordion player, didn’t need. Stafford also studied with Mamou Playboys leader Steve Riley, a master of Cajun accordion.
Cajun music, Stafford said of his early love for the genre, “is infectious music. It’s hard not to be captivated by it.”
The music’s French lyrics appealed to him, too.
“I understood the lyrics and stories in the songs,” he said.
The next step to the formation of Feufollet came when Stafford and a young fiddler, Chris Segura, got together through the auspices of a Cajun jam session organized for young musicians. Stafford’s younger brother, Michael, became the group’s drummer.
Too young to perform in bars, the band played private parties and festivals.
“I don’t remember thinking it was unusual to be doing that at that age,” Stafford said. “It was always part of my life. I did it, I loved it and that’s how it was.”
Even from the beginning, singing in French was essential to the band.
“That’s probably the most important thing,” Stafford said. “The language is a vital part of the culture. But a lot of younger Cajun acts, especially the most popular ones, they either sing in English or they mimic French lyrics phonetically because they don’t speak the language.
“That’s not what I want to be doing. It’s important to know what you’re singing. That’s also the only way to create new songs in the tradition.”
But Stafford and Feufollet are not purists. He likes all kinds of music, performs pickup gigs with various groups and is a member of the rock band Hungry Hungry. Segura enjoys contemporary alternative acts such as Wilco, Spoon and the Flaming Lips. Singer Anna Laura Edmiston enjoys 1970s country classics and contemporary dance and rap music. Bassist Phillippe Billeaudeaux plays guitar with Lafayette rock band the Amazing Nuns.
Feufollet released its fourth CD, Cow Island Hop, in April. Issued by fiddler Joel Savoy’s Eunice-based Valcour Records, the new disc is particularly important to Feufollet.
“We had been playing the same tunes and not playing often,” Stafford said. “People were forgetting about us. So, with the fourth album, we wanted to do something different, get ourselves back into the scene and make our statement as young adults. We’re not kids anymore.”
Feufollet’s membership runs from 19 to 31. Collaborating with engineer Ivan Klisanin, the band co-produced Cow Island Hop, a first for the group.
“A lot of the ideas and the song selection came from us,” Stafford said. “For that reason, too, we’re all real proud of it.”
-- by Jon Wirt 10/03/08 >> go there
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