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Official Poster
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Directors: Les Blank, Chris Strachwitz
Run Time: 84 min
Year: 1989
Category: Documentary Feature
FILMMAKER ATTENDING
"Cajun Films by Les Blank" and The Savoy Family Cajun Band in Concert are supported by a grant from American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius, a major initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts aimed at acquainting Americans with the best of their cultural and artistic legacy.
J'AI ÉTÉ AU BAL begins as anthropology and becomes a celebration. It's about the roots of Cajun music as it evolved in southeast Louisiana after French Acadians, exiled from Nova Scotia, settled there in the middle of the 18th century. It's also about the roots of zydeco, which is primarily black American, and how the two forms of music have sometimes cross-fertilized each other and yet maintained their separate identities. . .
The cast of real-life characters is huge. Among them, Ann Allen Savoy, the wife of Marc Savoy and the author of CAJUN MUSIC: A REFLECTION OF A PEOPLE, which inspired the film; Dennis McGee, described as the dean of Cajun fiddlers; Clifton Chenier, described as "the undisputed king of zydeco"; "Queen Ida" Guillory, whose music combines zydeco with rock, country, reggae and Tex-Mex, and Jermaine Jack, who plays the washboard with bottle openers and spoons. --Vincent Canby, The New York Times
Such an infectious film that it's hard to stay seated. A feast of folkloric scholarship, human history, regional color and irresistible music, an inspiring 'must-see' for anyone interested in American folkways or music. --Peter Stack, San Francisco Chronicle
Writers: Les Blank, Chris Strachwitz (from the book CAJUN MUSIC: A REFLECTION OF A PEOPLE by Ann Savoy)
Editor: Maureen Gosling
Les Blank has made more than 40 films and has been called "a master of movies about the American idiom" by Vincent Canby of The New York Times. His films have won awards throughout the world, have been selected by the U.S. Library of Congress for inclusion in The National Film Registry, and have been shown in major museum retrospectives.
