4 singers, 4 continents, 1 NSU stop
March 5, 2012
Nicholls Players rejuvenate Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’
March 5, 2012
Amid the honking accordions and zydeco two-stepping that make up the sound and sight of Nicholls State University’s Swamp Stomp is the thread that binds the revelers.
For three days, south Louisiana culture is the spine of a music festival that organizers expect will draw close to 5,000 people this year.
The mingling sound of fiddles, guitars and washboards permeates the March air and the exemplary playing of the instruments lends itself to festivity and, to a younger audience, bequeathing the cultural baton.
“Our goal is to help keep south Louisiana music, art and culture alive and well,” says Brenda Haskins, Swamp Stomp’s co-chair.
Haskins, an organizer of Swamp Stomp’s three previous iterations, is optimistic about the future of Acadiana culture. “I just believe in our young people,” she says.
“It was our goal from the very beginning that we highlight what we call ‘The music of the Bayou,’” she continues. “We think there’s a lot of people who do not know about it. We want our folks here to be proud of it and continue that music for years to come, so we’re trying to preserve that.”
Now in its fourth year since becoming an outdoor festival, Swamp Stomp has ballooned into the region’s first alluring music festival each year. The festival has in its favor pent-up jubilation and a slot in the very-limited south Louisiana springtime.
Haskins says the goal is to transform Swamp Stomp into a “strong, strong regional music festival,” within 10 years. A developing reputation of hosting the region’s top cultured bands won’t hurt the cause.
Feufollet, a Lafayette-based quintet, is penciled into one of the 13 Swamp Stomp musical slots. The band’s 2010 album, “En Couleurs,” received a Grammy nomination in the Best Cajun or Zydeco category (now called Best Regional Roots) in 2011.
Chris Segura, fiddler of the band, which sings a large portion of its lyrics in French, is among a younger generation of musicians who have taken Cajun and Zydeco music and modernized it.
“I would say the main difference is that the members of Feufollet, we grew up playing traditional music, so that’s kind of where we started, and we’re going out from there,” Segura says. “Our main reason for (adding a modern twist) is to keep it interesting for us.”
Segura started playing the fiddle at 4 years old after tagging along with his parents to Cajun music concerts. Through a mutual acquaintance, he was paired with Chris Stafford, another Feufollet member, and the two began over-the-phone jam sessions. From there, and with Stafford’s brother Mike, a drummer, the band has evolved into a world-traveling Cajun gem.
Feufollet has released five full albums and is in the process of crafting another release. Segura says the band’s goal is to make music that “holds up to the test of time.” Success has taken the band to the Barbican Theatre in London and the Cambrige Folk Festival and World Of Music, Arts and Dance Festival in the United Kingdom.
On the surface, Feufollet’s productions may seem distanced from the music they heard in their youths, but the Cajun Zydeco elements remain an integral part in each song.
And don’t expect the band to forget its roots – after all, “Feufollet” alludes to the Will-o’-the-wisp, the glow often seen above swamps or marshland.
A member of a Cajun Zydeco band who first bowed a fiddle early in his youth, Segura says influencing children at a young age is the key to furthering the culture.
“I think Cajun music is all about having fun,” Segura explains. “The whole weekend, if one kid gets inspired and says, ‘Hey, I want to learn how to play accordion, fiddle or guitar or learn to speak French,’ then that’s worth it, you know?”
Feufollet is far from the only accomplished group performing on the Nicholls campus this month.
Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, whose most recent album “Grand Isle” garnered the band its fourth Grammy nomination, headlines the festival’s first day. The heralded band plays at 8:30 p.m.
Other on-stage artists include Waylon Thibodeaux, Foret Tradition and Ryan Brunet and the Malfecteurs.
The festival officially kicks off with Tresors du Bayou, or “Treasures of the Bayou,” a French educational program, runs from 9 a.m. to 1:45 p.m., March 16, near John L. Guidry Stadium.
Nicholls has enlisted a dance troop from Mandeville to teach the Cajun waltz, two-step and jitterbug while Treater plays Zydeco and Cajun music. Cameron Dupuy and The Cajun Troubadours, led by 14-year-old Cameron on the accordion, plays at noon.
Haskins expects between 1,400 and 2,000 children enrolled at schools in a three-parish area to attend. More than a dozen artists, musicians and craftsmen are scheduled to pass down cultural aspects to the attendees.
“We designed this program to get children involved,” Haskins says. “If our children do not appreciate our culture, then I’m afraid that with the modern world and the computers, that they won’t appreciate what’s special about south Louisiana.
“I think it’s important to make this concerted effort to show them how proud they should be of where they come from and why we are so unique to the rest of the world.”
– editor@gumboguide.com
Revelers dance during Swamp Stomp 2011 on the Nicholls State University campus. Thirteen bands perform when Swamp Stomp returns from March 16-18. Tickets cost $10 per day or $25 for a weekend pass. The lineup is linked below.
Philippe Billeaudeaux, Anna Laura Edmiston, Chris Segura and Chris and Michael Stafford make up Feufollet. The band takes the Swamp Stomp stage at 12:30 p.m., March 18. A full schedule is listed below.
