Pasé Bél Tan – Francophonies & Creolities in Louisiana

In their study of the Cajun French of Louisiana, sociolinguists Sylvie Dubois and Megan Melançon describe the weakening of local francophone identity among speakers growing up experiencing “the stigmatization of Cajun French in the forties, fifties and sixties”. The Louisianan French cultural renaissance of the intervening period is celebrated in the rich cross-generational offerings of Pasé Bél Tan, the latest compilation from artisan Paris label/publishing house FLEE. The first half presents field recordings of Louisianan artists singing French and Creole folk songs, including impassioned a cappella performances by legends such as Alma Barthélémy and Caesar Vincent which acquire an additional sense of homeliness with the retention of performers’ laughter and self-corrections, and background sounds from the bayou. It also includes full-band jazz and blues arrangements of Louisiana standards such as ‘Zydeco sont pas salé’, which demonstrate the technical brilliance, danceability and diverse ethnocultural influences of local traditional music. Accompanying these original recordings are a book of academic essays on Louisianan French language and identity, and a second LP of musical responses by contemporary artists from the wider francophone and postcolonial world. Highlights include Chimère FM's noise remix of harmonica piece ‘Train à vapeur avec un chien’, Herandu's jungle track sampling the Cajun waltz ‘Jolie blonde’, and Afro-Caribbean-influenced industrial numbers by Deafkids and Madteo.