Dewey Balfa

Trackimage Playbut Trackname Playbut Trackname
Port Arthur Blues 00:00 Tools
Pine Grove Blues 00:00 Tools
Petite Fille De La Campagne 00:00 Tools
Ma Chère Maman Créole 00:00 Tools
Equand J'etais Petit 00:00 Tools
Interview On Cajun Dances: "Jolie Blon" 00:00 Tools
Grand Mamou 00:00 Tools
La Jolie Blonde 00:00 Tools
Jolie Blonde 00:00 Tools
Indian on a Stump (Arr. D. Balfa, Flat Town Music) 00:00 Tools
La Danse De Mardi Gras 00:00 Tools
Blues in Cajun Fiddling "Les Bars de la Prison" 00:00 Tools
Johnny Can't Dance 00:00 Tools
La Valse de Gran Bois (Arr. D. Balfa, Flat Town Music) 00:00 Tools
99 Years Waltz 00:00 Tools
Sliding Notes: "The Port Arthur Blues" (Leo Soileau) 00:00 Tools
La Valse De Gran Bois 00:00 Tools
Open Strings of Standard A 440 tuning 00:00 Tools
Doubling The Strings In The D Chord 00:00 Tools
Doubling The Strings In The A Chord 00:00 Tools
Line A1, "J'etais au bal hier (au) soir" 00:00 Tools
Unisons and Octaves in the A chord 00:00 Tools
Rolling Notes: "Ma Chere Maman Creole" (Dennis McGee) 00:00 Tools
Lines A1 & A2, Tune #1 00:00 Tools
Indian on a Stump 00:00 Tools
La Valse De Deux Familles 00:00 Tools
Description of Mardi Gras Ceremony: Mardi Gras Song 00:00 Tools
Chameaux One-Step 00:00 Tools
Cajun Reel 00:00 Tools
Allons a Lafayette 00:00 Tools
The Trill: "My Pretty Little Christine" (D. Balfa, Flat Town 00:00 Tools
Quand J'étais Pauvre 00:00 Tools
Drone Sound: "Grand Mamou" (Arr. D. Balfa, Flat Town Music) 00:00 Tools
Grandpa's Waltz (Arr. D. Balfa, Flat Town Music) 00:00 Tools
Basile Cajun Hour: Intros, "La Valse de Reno" 00:00 Tools
J'ai Passe Devant Ta Porte 00:00 Tools
Jolie Blonde Du Bayou 00:00 Tools
Old Lonesome Sound: "La Valse des Bombocheurs" 00:00 Tools
J'ai Ete Au Bal 00:00 Tools
Quand J'etais Pauvre 00:00 Tools
Mardi Gras Jig 00:00 Tools
The Cajun from Church Point 00:00 Tools
When I Was Poor 00:00 Tools
Interview on Cajun Dances: "Jolie Blon" (Buddy Dee, Glad Music) 00:00 Tools
La Valse Du Canada 00:00 Tools
99 Years Waltz" (Arr. D. Balfa, Flat Town Music) 00:00 Tools
Les Veuves de la coulee 00:00 Tools
Basile Cajun Hour: Commercials, Station Identification, "Madeleine" 00:00 Tools
Parlez Nous a Boire 00:00 Tools
J'ai Pleurer 00:00 Tools
Liberty 00:00 Tools
Lake Arthur Stomp 00:00 Tools
Dans Le Coeur De La Ville 00:00 Tools
Mardi Gras Song - Mamou Mardi Gras, 2/14/75 00:00 Tools
Drunkard's Sorrow Waltz 00:00 Tools
1755 00:00 Tools
Pauvre Hobo 00:00 Tools
La Danse des Mardi Gras 00:00 Tools
Bienvenue Au Paradis 00:00 Tools
Mon Bon Vieux Mari 00:00 Tools
Interview on Cajun Singing: "J'amerais Te Pardonner" 00:00 Tools
Lacassine Special 00:00 Tools
La jolie blonde - Instrumental 00:00 Tools
T'ai Petite et T'ai Meon 00:00 Tools
Dewey Balfa / Basile Breakdown 00:00 Tools
Valse De Balfa 00:00 Tools
Valse de Balfa (Balfa Waltz) [Instrumental] 00:00 Tools
Grand Mamou - Instrumental 00:00 Tools
Madeleine 00:00 Tools
Mardi Gras Song 00:00 Tools
The Back Door 00:00 Tools
Pauvre hobo (Poor Hobo) [Instrumental] 00:00 Tools
The Back Door - Instrumental 00:00 Tools
My Old Wagon 00:00 Tools
La Mauvaise Nouvelle 00:00 Tools
Blues A Leo Soileau 00:00 Tools
Family Waltz 00:00 Tools
Two Step A Nathan Abshire 01:26 Tools
Perrodin Two step 00:00 Tools
La Valse A Pop 00:00 Tools
Blues In Cajun Fiddling: "Les Bars De La Prison" 00:00 Tools
Blues a Leo Soileau - Instrumental 00:00 Tools
Ma Chere Maman Creole 00:00 Tools
Grand Mamou (Instrumental) 00:00 Tools
Basile Breakdown 00:00 Tools
Cajun Fiddlesticks (Instrumental) 00:00 Tools
Cajun Fiddlesticks 00:00 Tools
Lines B1 Thru B4, Tune #1, At Near Normal Speed 00:00 Tools
Open Strings of the Lower G Standard Tuning 00:00 Tools
Key of D tune slow:"La Valse de Gran Bois" 00:00 Tools
Tit Galop Pour Mamou 00:00 Tools
Two Step a Nathan Abshire - Instrumental 00:00 Tools
Key Of C tune: "Perrodin Two Step" At Slow Speed 00:00 Tools
La Danse de Mardi Gras (The Balfa Brothers) 00:00 Tools
First half, line A1, "Jolie Blon" 00:00 Tools
Quand j'etais pauvre (When I Was Poor) 00:00 Tools
Arrete Pas La Musique 00:00 Tools
Equand J'etais Pauvre 00:00 Tools
Chere tout toute - Instrumental 00:00 Tools
J'ai Fait Un Gros Erreur - I Made A Big Mistake 00:00 Tools
La Reel De Joie (Instrumental) 00:00 Tools
Lines A3 & A4, "Jolie Blon" 00:00 Tools
Rhythm Bow Bassing the 2nd fiddle on "Jolie Blon" 00:00 Tools
Regular Waltz and Two-Time Waltz: "Gran Mamou" and "Mademoiselle, Quoi Tu Veux Manger?" 00:00 Tools
Chere Tout Toute 00:00 Tools
J'ai pleurer (I Cried) 00:00 Tools
Les veuves de la coulee - Instrumental 00:00 Tools
Reel De Melon D'eau 00:00 Tools
Perrodin Two Step At Normal Speed With Guitar 00:00 Tools
Jolie Blon - at normal speed with guitar accompaniment 00:00 Tools
Pauvre Hobo (Instrumental) 00:00 Tools
Straight Bassing the 2nd fiddle on the "Perrodin Two Step" 00:00 Tools
Indian On A Stomp 00:00 Tools
Slow Version Of "Indian On The Stump" 00:00 Tools
Les Bars de la Prison 00:00 Tools
Key of F tune slow: "Grandpa's Waltz" 00:00 Tools
Cajun Fiddlesticks - Instrumental 00:00 Tools
Mardi Gras Song: Mamou Mardi Gras, 2/14/75 00:00 Tools
La Mauvaise Nouvelle (The Bad News) 00:00 Tools
Lines A1 Thru A4, Tune #1 00:00 Tools
Rolling Notes: "Ma Chere Maman Creole" 00:00 Tools
J'ai passe devant ta porte (I Passed in Front of Your Door) [Instrumental] 00:00 Tools
Dewey Balfa in performance and conversation 00:00 Tools
Fiddlesticks 00:00 Tools
Mes Petits Yeux Noirs 00:00 Tools
La Reel De Joie 00:00 Tools
La Jolie Blonde (Instrumental) 00:00 Tools
Valse de Balfa (Balfa Waltz) - Instrumental 00:00 Tools
Chere Bassette 00:00 Tools
Les flammes d'enfer 00:00 Tools
Jolie Blonde du Bayou (Pretty Blonde of the Bayou) 00:00 Tools
Two Step De Lanse a Paille 00:00 Tools
Unisons And Octave In The D Chord 00:00 Tools
J'ai Pleure 00:00 Tools
Reel de melon d'eau (Watermelon Reel) [Instrumental] 00:00 Tools
Introduction To Shuffle Type Bowing 00:00 Tools
Je Suis Orphelin 00:00 Tools
Shuffling the Bow for part 3, "Indian on the Stump" 00:00 Tools
Je Me Suis Marillie 00:00 Tools
Les flumes d'enfer (The Flames of Hell) - Instrumental 00:00 Tools
Parts A & B, tune #1 00:00 Tools
Enterre Moi Pas 00:00 Tools
En Bas du Chêne Vert 00:00 Tools
Perrodin Two Step - Instrumental 00:00 Tools
The Watermelon Reel 00:00 Tools
Dewey Balfa recalls the lyrics to a Cajun waltz 00:00 Tools
Octave And Unisons Of Indian On The Stump Tuning 00:00 Tools
Les Flumes D'Enfer 00:00 Tools
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Dewey Balfa (March 20, 1927 – June 17, 1992) was an American Cajun fiddler and singer who contributed significantly to the popularity of Cajun music. Balfa was born near Mamou, Louisiana. He is perhaps best known for his 1964 performance at the Newport Folk Festival with Gladius Thibodeaux and Vinus LeJeune, where the group received an enthusiastic response from over seventeen thousand audience members. He sang the song "Parlez Nous à Boire" in the 1981 cult film Southern Comfort, in which he had a small role. Dewey Balfa was born in Grand Louis, Louisiana, a small community west of Mamou. He was the son of Amay (née Ardoin) and Charles Balfa who were sharecroppers. Dewey had learned most of his songs from his grandmother and father who was a fiddle player. During World War II, Dewey worked in a shipyard in Orange, Texas. After returning in 1948, he and his brothers Will and Rodney formed the Musical Brothers. In 1965, he formed The Balfa Brothers after an enthusiastic response from a performance at the Newport Folk Festival. This led to their first LP, produced by Swallow Records. Dewey Balfa married Hilda Frugé when he was 22 in 1949. They had five children together: Nelda, Roberta, Norma, Dewey Jr., and Christine. Many of whom became musicians. Christine founded the band Balfa Toujours to continue the family tradition. Dewey Balfa appears in a documentary file entitled "Les Blues de Balfa" produced by Yasha Aginsky. In one scene, Balfa is shown with Nathan Abshire entertaining a group of school children. Balfa gives a short lecture concerning the origins of Cajun music: "We are here to tell you a little bit about what a Cajun is. A Cajun is a person who his homeland was France. Went into Nova Scotia, at the time Acadia, and settled there and was there for about a hundred years, and afterwards the British took over the territory and then the French-speaking people, the French descendants, known as the Acadians, came down to the South-Western part of Louisiana, and that was back in 1755. So over all of these years, your language, and your music has been preserved from daddy to son or daddy to daughter or momma to daughter." Dewey Balfa was born in 1927 in Grand Louis, a small community near Mamou, Louisiana, to Charles Balfa and Amay Ardoin. There was music in the Balfa household from the beginning, with papa Charles playing the fiddle and singing ballads. Dewey's older brother Will played with his father, and at the age of ten Dewey began to join in as well. In the mid-1940's he formed the Musical Brothers and began playing at Hick's Wagonwheel Club. Along with his brothers Will, Harry, Rodney and Burkeman, Dewey began playing a schedule that would break many musicians today, often playing eight dances a week while holding down a full time job. With the beginnings of rock and roll, however, Cajun music entered a period of decline and the band performed less and less. In 1964, Dewey was called in as a last minute replacement on guitar to perform at the Newport Folk Festival. This was to be the first time Cajun music was heard in such a context, and many were embarrassed at the thought of what they considered old "chanky-chank" representing Louisiana at such a prestigious event. Here are a few words of Dewey's to describe what happened: "I had played in house dances, family gatherings, maybe a dance hall where you might have seen as many as two hundred people at once. In fact, I doubt I had ever seen two hundred people at once. And in Newport, there were seventeen thousand. Seventeen thousand people who wouldn't let us get off stage." This incredible response was a major turning point for Dewey, who went home with a new sense of pride in his culture and his music. He got his brothers playing again and began bringing their passionate music to festivals across the globe. While this travelling was important to him, it was the resonance back in Louisiana that mattered most. He got a chance to amplify this resonance in 1974, when the first Tribute to Cajun Music, now known as Festivals Acadiens, was held in Lafayette, Louisiana. With this event, he showed the people of Louisiana just how powerful and important their music was; at the same time he sent a message to the world that the culture was standing tall and reviving itself. The Balfa Brothers emerged from the festival as ambassadors of the culture, and they continued that mission for many years. Tragically, Dewey lost his brothers Will and Rodney in an automobile accident in 1979. To add to that already horrific loss, his wife Hilda passed away in 1980. These combined tragedies were almost enough to bring him down, but he realized that his only choice was to carry on with the goal he had set for himself and his only relief from the suffering was the music itself. He gradually began playing and travelling again, earning a National Heritage Fellowship in 1982. Throughout the 1980's he shared his music with countless audiences and taught many workshops as musicians from around the country became attracted to Cajun music. He continued playing until his death in June of 1992, when he finally succumbed to the cancer that had been hounding him for some time. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.