Minuit Cadien: Noël Au Pays Des Bayous

Christmas in South Louisiana is a special time, different from Christmas anywhere else: it is alligator season, the bayous are quiet, the tallow trees finally turn red, and we all hope for a cool Christmas! No figgy pudding for us: bring us the fig preserves, carve the cochon de lait, serve the rice dressing and fruit cake and listen to the New Year’s toasts and laughter.

RENAISSANCE CADIENNE invites you to share the spirit of the old days, a time filled with bonfires … “Ave Maria” at midnight mass… the réveillon and Christmas dinner … New Year’s day toasts and revelry.

Renaissance Cadienne takes you back in time and leads you in some new directions as well. Cajun fusion? Pair a Huron Indian song with a carol from the French Renaissance; Mix Bach into the Cajun repertoire; Add a New Orleans song about death and rebirth to Afro-Creole Canray Fontenot’s “Bonjour Bonne Année.” Let us take you to Chartres cathedral to remind us all of what the season is about. Joyeux Noël, mes amis!

1. Noël Huron
2. Venez, Divin Messie
3. Ave Verum Corpus (Mozart)
4. Bonjour, Bonne Année
5. Il est Né, le Divin Enfant
6. Ave Maria (Schubert)
7. Adeste Fideles
8. The Christmas Two-Step
9. Mon Dieu, Bénissez La Nouvelle Année
10. Minuit Chrétien
11. Nous Vous Souhaitons Joyeux Noël/McGee's Mazurka
12. Les Anges Dans Nos Campagnes
13. Jésus-Christ S'habille en Pauvre
14. Le Voici L'Agneau Si Doux
15. Panis Angelicus (Lambilotte)
16. J'ai Passé Devant Ta Porte/ Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring
17. Chartres Chant: Je Vous Salue, Marie

Mon père aussi ma mère

Why choose as the title to our CD a song no longer sung in Louisiana? Because mon père, et aussi me mère, and all those who have gone before whom we never knew, have made us what we are. Like the tenacious live oak, we are nourished by the rich soil of our past: our stories, our music, our beliefs, our folklore. Our roots ground us when the hurricanes come.

1. T'en as eu t'en auras plus
2. Mon père aussi ma mère
3. Je ne veux pas mais me marillier
4. J'ai passè devant ta porte
5. McGee's Reel
6. Fais trois tours
7. Les amours et les beaux jours
8. Allons à Lafayette
9. La valse du samedi soir
10. Mon bon vieux mari
11. Voila l'beau vent
12. Church Point breakdown
13. Ave Maris Stella
14. St Anne Hymn
15. J'irai la Voir un jour
16. La veuve du Lac Bleu
17. Bourrée
18. Li j'avais les beaux souliers
19. Parlez-nous à boire
20. Trinquez
21. Viens me chercher

OffBeat Magazine review - January 2004

Renaissance Cadienne
Mon père aussi ma mère
(Tracas Records)

Mission statements such as "to preserve the musical heritage of Louisiana" often pose lofty goals as well as potentially unmeasurable objectives. Yet, couple that with a sub-mission of resurrecting forgotten dances and that's the calling of Lafayette's Renaissance Cadienne. The Cajun Folkloric Troupe directed by Dr. May Waggoner (who's also the co-producer of New Orleans Celtic musician Beth Patterson) have not only resurrected 19th-century dances such as Les Lanciers (quadrille) and the Bourreé but meticulously research many other esoteric Cajun cultural aspects as well.

Even though their sophomore sonic effort complements their costumed choreographed performances, on its own, it's a heady body of work that stands authoritatively. While closer to home, Cajun music devotees will revel in scintillating ancient style renditions of "Church Point Breakdown," "La Valse du Samedi Soir" and "McGee's Reel," that's only part of the story. The vanguard troupe unveils the "Bourrée," an extinct dance with a melody stemming from Poitou, France (the former home of the Acadian colonists). There's the hearty toasting song "Trinquez" that similarly has medieval origins in France.

Yet RC's real beauty lies in their enchanting gale force four-part harmonies that practically border on angelic. The enchanting, whisk-you-away title song, thought only to be of Nova Scotia origin, was determined to have Louisiana roots while the religious triptych of "Ave Maris Stella," "St. Anne Hymn" and "J'irai la Voir un jour" features the glorious melding of male-female voices singing celestially together. There's a lot to discover among this finely sculpted opus but then again that's the idea of a renaissance, isn't it? Trinquez a Renaissance Cadienne.

— Dan Willging —

La Fleur de la Jeunesse

In the topsy-turvy world of south Louisiana, hyacinths bloom in the water and moss grows in the air. The maple turns red in the spring, the oak tree stays green all year round, and bayous can't decide which way to flow. Change comes slowly here; spring slides into summer, peppers take years to become hot sauce, and the reluctant marshland dawdles it's way to the ocean.

By contrast, rites of passage are sudden and loud. The cry of the newborn soon becomes the defiant challenge of the adolescent's first Mardi Gras. The wedding hymn becomes the dance of the wedding party, the music of the bal de maison, then the charivari. And all of the passages are marked by music. Always by music.

Acadian wedding celebrations reflect the participants: nostalgic, raucus, bawdy, sublime. This music, rooted in France and Canada and transformed by the fertile soil of Louisiana into a new creation, not quite old world anymore and imbued with youth and vigor, underscores the cycle of seasons and of rituals and of lives.

Come dream with us of times gone by ...

1. La Bastringue
2. Marche des Mariés/La Valse de la Famille
3. J'ai du bon Tabac/Un Petit Bonhomme
4. Adieu, La Fleur del la Jeunesse
5. Contredanse
6. Aveine, Aveine, Aveine
7. Théogène Dubois
8. Mardi Gras
9. Au Pont de Nantes
10. Allons à Lafayette
11. Les Lanciers
12. Dansez Codinne
13. St. Anne Reel
14. Ma Petite Mignonne
15. Musique à Bouche
16. La Noce à Josephine/Saute Crapaud
17. Mamou Two-Step