38 “Acadian One-Step” by Joseph Falcon

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June 24, 2010 by gadaya

We continue on cajun dance music with “Acadian One-Step” by Joe Falcon, one of the greatest accordion player and a pioneer artist of cajun records. The first recording of authentic cajun music was made in 1928 by  Falcon and his future wife Cleoma Breaux playing rhythm guitar. One of the song recorded that day  was “Allons à Lafayette” , who became  a real cajun classic. The record sold well and soon the big recording companies were on the hunt for other cajun artists. Falcon recorded many sides between 1928 and 1937 but the early death by accident of his wife and musical partner Cleoma in 1941 and the popularity of other musical genres like western swing made him stop his recording career.

In the first place, cajun music was played with fiddles but soon the accordion, brought from Europe to Louisiana by german settlers in the mid-19th century, became the instrument of choice. The fiddle was re-introduced during the Western Swing craze and soon Joe’s music became out-of fashion. The cajun revival that started in the mid-1960’s brought back the importance of Falcon and his accordion style and the Arhoolie label  released a live concert recorded in the 1960’s.

-For more about Joe Falcon and his first recording, go to this page

–The Wikipedia page about Joe Falcon

–A page about the history of cajun accordion

–A review of the Arhoolie release “Joe Falcon, cajun music pioneer”

-Here are 26 recordings by Joe Falcon, with Cleoma playing guitar on all sides and singing on some and Cleoma’s brother Ophy playing violin on a few sides. They are part of a nice box-set issued by JSP records “Cajun Early Recordings (There are two more box-sets devoted to early cajun music on this label, check them out, they’re great and cheap…)

1. Lafayette
2. The Waltz that Carried Me to My Grave
3. Poche Town
4. When I Left Home for Texas
5. Ossen One Step
6. She has Forgotten Me
   
7. To Love and to Lose
8. Acadian One Step
9. La Fille Oncle Elair
10. Ils la Volet Mon Tracas
11. La Valse de Madam Sosten
12. La Valse J’aime
13. En Route Chez Moi
14. Mon Vieux d’Autrefois
15. Pauvre Garcon
16. Raise Your Window
17. La Valse de Marie Buller
18. La Vieux Soullard et sa Femme
19. Prenez Courage
20. C’est si Triste Sans Lui
21. Raise My Window High
22. Ma Valse Prefere
23. La Valse Crowley
24. Hand Me Down My Walking Cane
25. It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie
26. Lulu’s Back in Town

DOWNLOAD HERE