Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
(14 customer reviews) 26 of 26 people found the following review helpful
One of the Most Important Albums In Cajun Music,
January 30, 2004 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Play Traditional Cajun Music (Audio CD)
Leave your Wayne Toups discs at the door. If he is what you call Cajun music, you've got it all wrong. Being Cajun, I don't like it when people get artists like Toups confused with real, traditional Cajun music. I'm not bashing Toups. As a matter of fact, I quite enjoy his music. But most people outside of Louisiana think he's the real thing. The Balfa Brothers are REAL Cajun music. They play traditional and cherished songs of the Cajun people of Louisiana. Their recordings are crucial since most of the artists before them never made it into a recording studio. If you are Cajun, or have ties back to Louisiana, I highly suggest you get this recording if, for no other reason, to have a piece of your culture in your possession.
Go out and enjoy Wayne Toups and some of the new, peppier stuff that mixes zydeco and Cajun, but always remember that the Balfa's laid the ground work.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Wonderful, Essential, Haunting and makes you want to move...,
August 6, 2004 J. MCGEE (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Play Traditional Cajun Music (Audio CD)
I grew up in Mamou, Louisiana and went to grade school with Dewey's nephew, Tony. So, I think I might have some credentials in reviewing this album. Out of all the Cajun music I have in my collection, this CD gets played more than all the others combined. And that includes Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, headed by a guy closer to my age and from my hometown. Granted, the Balfa's were also from the Mamou area (closer to Basile). Steve Riley learned from Dewey Balfa, for one thing, and as good as he is, will never be able to capture that something special that was the Balfa Brothers.
I think, primarily, the Balfa Brothers captured the sound of an era that was in its twilight. Everything since will always be different (read: more modern) mainly because of the cultural changes and secondly because of the technological advances in music.
In the 60's and 70's, the revival of Folk music also awakened those of us growing up in culturally rich places such as Mamou...Read more
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Essential!,
November 25, 2005 Megan Romer (Lafayette, LA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Play Traditional Cajun Music (Audio CD)
No fan or student of Cajun music or folk/traditional music in general should be without this essential album. Every song here is a classic in the Cajun repertoire, and is presented in true Balfa Brothers form: outstanding! The liner notes include all the song lyrics in Cajun French and English. If you don't own this album, you really have no excuse. Buy it now!
