37 “Saute Crapaud” by Columbus Fruge

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June 6, 2010 by gadaya

With “Saute Crapaud”, we move from a african-american dance song about a dog (Old Dog Blue) to a cajun dance number about a frog (or a toad). Harry Smith choosed to present in his anthology of american folk music, along with the music of whites and blacks from the rural South, the traditional music of French-speakers of Louisiana, Cajun music. “Saute Crapaud” is the second Cajun number in the anthology (the first one was “La danseuse”) but the first to have a distinctive Cajun character. It follow Jim Jackson’s Old Dog Blue and the two tracks  both have a unique kind of rhythm, quite different from the fiddle tunes we heard on the first side of the Social music set. The syncopation used both by this two musicians, each one in his own way, give to this dance tunes their unique character. Accordeon player Columbus Fruge (or Frugé) recorded a few sides in the 1920’s but almost nothing is known about him.

-Apart from the 4 sides Columbus Fruge recorded for Victor Records in the 1920’s I added two sides recorded in the 1980’s by Fruge (with a more modern rhythm section!)that i could track down on the web thanks to another blog dedicated to the Harry Smith’s Anthology (Where Dead Voices Gather). Included also are a few other “Saute Crapaud” tracks by other cajun musicians and a Jew’s harp number called “Le saut des crapauds”, which has nothing to do with the cajun tune (except for the fact that rural musicians always wanted to recreate sounds of nature with their musical instruments) but i couldn’t resist to include it!

1. Saute crapaud Gérard Dôle Songs, Tales, Ditties and Dances
   
2. Saute Crapaud Cajun Strangers Cajun Country Ramble
3. Saute crapaud Elisabeth Landreneau Cajun Home Music
4. Le Saut Des Crapauds Trân Quang Haï Jew’s Harps Of The World
5. Saut Crapaud Columbus Fruge
6. Bayou Teche Columbus Fruge
7. Point Clair Blues Columbus Fruge
8. Pleure plus Waltz Columbus Fruge
9. Valse de LeBoeuf Columbus Fruge
10. Arnaudville Two-step Columbus Fruge

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