Creole musician Goldman Thibodeaux and former Louisiana poet laureate Darrell Bourque will perform at an intimate gathering Saturday afternoon to support UL Lafayette’s Center for Louisiana Studies.
They have woven a tapestry of stories and songs in the reimagining of Creole musician Amédé Ardoin’s short and tragic career. Ardoin was an accomplished accordionist who died in 1942, at the age of 44, six weeks after he was badly beaten in a racially motivated attack. Ardoin was influential in the development of Cajun and zydeco music.
Bourque recently published a book of poems about Ardoin, “If You Abandon Me, Comment Je Vas Faire.” Thibodeaux is “considered the last to still actively play one of the oldest forms of traditional Creole music known as La La,” said Dr. Moriah Istre, a local folklorist.
The house concert series benefits the Archives of Cajun and Creole Folklore housed at the Center for Louisiana Studies. The ACCF is the world’s largest collection of Cajun and Creole folklore, field recordings, oral histories, and other folklife materials. Proceeds from the house concert series will be used for equipment and software upgrades, student internships, and new archival acquisitions.
Tickets are $40 and are available for purchase through ACCFStoriesandSongs.EventBrite.com. The ticket price also includes dinner. The concert is hosted at a local private residence; details and directions to the event will be emailed to paid ticket holders on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016.
Caption: Darrell Bourque, left, and Goldman Thibodeaux catch up over cups of coffee.