Amédé Ardoin

Amédé Ardoin
Amédé Ardoin
	Amédé Ardoin around 1912, on the occasion of his Confirmation in the Catholic Church.
Background information
Born	March 11, 1898; near Basile, Evangeline Parish, Louisiana, U.S.
Died	November 3, 1942 (aged 44); Pineville, Louisiana, U.S.
Genres	Creole, zydeco
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, accordionist
Instrument(s)	Vocals, Cajun accordion
Labels	Columbia Records, Brunswick, Vocalion, Decca, Melotone, Bluebird, Arhoolie, Tompkins Square

Amédé Ardoin (March 11, 1898 – November 3, 1942)^[2] was an American musician, known for his high singing voice and virtuosity on German-made one-row diatonic button accordions.^[3] He is credited by Louisiana music scholars with laying the groundwork for both Creole and Cajun music in the early 20th century,^[4] and wrote several songs now regarded as Cajun and zydeco standards. His music and playing greatly inspired post-war Cajun accordion builders like Marc Savoy.^[5]

Early life and career

Ardoin was born near Basile in Evangeline Parish, Louisiana a descendant of both enslaved and free people. Ardoin spoke only Cajun French and did not speak English, as did most people in the Cajun Country. Developing his musical talents in preference to undertaking farm work, he played at dances, often for Cajun audiences, with fiddle players Alphonse LaFleur and Douglas Bellard. Adam Fontenot, father of fiddler Canray Fontenot, was an early musical influence.^[6] He moved around the area frequently, settling at one point near Chataignier, where he met Cajun fiddle player Dennis McGee. They established a more regular musical partnership, playing at local house parties, sometimes attended by Ardoin's young cousin, Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin.^[7]^[8]

Ardoin and McGee were among the first artists to record the music of the Acadiana region of Louisiana. On December 9, 1929, they recorded six songs for Columbia Records in New Orleans.^[9] They made further recordings together in New Orleans in 1930, and in San Antonio, Texas, in August 1934. Ardoin also made solo recordings in New York City in December 1934.^[3] The recordings were issued on various labels, including Brunswick, Vocalion, Decca, Melotone and Bluebird.^[8] In all, thirty-four recordings with Ardoin playing accordion are known to exist.

His recordings and performances became popular throughout southern Louisiana. In the late 1930s, he played regularly in Eunice, Louisiana with fiddle player Sady Courville, but the two did not record together.^[7] Ardoin's music combined "European song forms and African rhythmic approaches such as swing and syncopation... [He] personified this cultural blend and enhanced its development through his deft technique and his ability to improvise. Ardoin was a lively, inventive accordionist who could keep a crowd dancing while playing alone. He was also a soulful singer whose emotional style made dramatic use of elongated, high-pitched notes."^[8]

Later life and death

The circumstances that led to Ardoin's death, and the final cause of his death, were uncertain for many years.

Contemporaries said that Ardoin suffered from impaired mental and musical capacities later in his life.

Descendants of family members and musicians who knew Ardoin claimed a story, now well-known, about a racially motivated attack on him in which he was severely beaten, in about 1939, while walking home after playing at a house dance near Eunice. The common story said that some white men were angered when a white woman, daughter of the house, lent her handkerchief to Ardoin to wipe the sweat from his face.^[8]^[10] Ardoin seems never to have fully mentally recovered from this attack.^[11]

Another story according to musicians Canray Fontenot and Wade Frugé, in PBS's American Patchwork, claimed that as Ardoin was leaving Eunice, he was run over by a Model A car which crushed his head and throat, damaging his vocal cords; they said he was found the next day, lying in a ditch.

Studies have concluded that he died as a result of a venereal disease.^[7] He ended up in an asylum in Pineville, Louisiana, where he was admitted in September 1942. He died at the hospital two months later, and was buried in the hospital's common grave.^[3]^[12]

Legacy

The 31 songs recorded by Ardoin have become "an important part of the core repertoire of Cajun and Creole music," and his accordion playing and vocals have both been stylistically influential in Cajun music and zydeco.^[6]

Along with bandmates like Dennis McGee, Ardoin "crossed the musical color line" in the Jim Crow South, earning the admiration of listeners of both races and creating temporary social spaces where cultural interchange could take place.^[11] Anthropologist Sara Le Menestrel notes, "Ardoin is now considered the father of French music by most local musicians, no matter which subcategory of music [i.e., Cajun or Creole] they identify with."^[13]

On March 11, 2018, a life-sized statue of Ardoin was unveiled at the St. Landry Parish Visitor Center—based on the most famous photo^[14] of Ardoin, when he received the Catholic sacrament of Confirmation.^[15] The project was headed by Louisiana's former Poet Laureate, author, and professor Darrell Bourque, who wrote a book of poetry titled 'If You Abandon Me: An Amédé Ardoin Songbook', the cover of which features artwork by Pierre Bourque.

Discography

Compilations

Amadé Ardoin – Louisiana Cajun Music Vol. 6 : Amadé Ardoin – The First Black Zydeco Recording Artist (1928–1938) (OT-124 Old Timey Records, 1983)
Pioneers of Cajun Accordion 1926–1936 (LPOT128 Old Timey / Arhoolie, 1989)
I'm Never Comin Back: Roots of Zydeco (ARH7007 Arhoolie, 1995)
Amede Ardoin – Mama, I'll Be Long Gone: The Complete Recordings of Amede Ardoin 1929–1934 (TSQ2554 Tompkins Square Records, 2011)

References

^ Snyder, Jared (1995). Amédé Ardoin "I'm Never Comin' Back" (CD Liner). El Cerrito: Arhoolie Records. pp. 10–14. 096297700723. Archived from the original on February 4, 2001.
^ Eagle, Bob; LeBlanc, Eric S. (2013). Blues - A Regional Experience. Santa Barbara: Praeger Publishers. p. 378. ISBN 978-0313344237.
^ ^a ^b ^c Campbell Robertson (May 28, 2015). "Mystery, and Discovery, on the Trail of a Creole Music Pioneer". The New York Times. Retrieved May 28, 2015. A Creole prodigy who traveled the countryside playing his bluesy two-steps and waltzes, he changed Cajun music and laid down the roots for zydeco. At his death at the age of 44 in 1942, he was Case No.13387 in the state psychiatric hospital, destined for an anonymous burial.
^ Tomko, Gene (2020). Encyclopedia of Louisiana Musicians: Jazz, Blues, Cajun, Creole, Zydeco, Swamp Pop, and Gospel. Baton Rouge: LSU Press. p. 4. ISBN 9780807169322.
^ Savoy, Marc (2021). Made in Louisiana: The Story of the Acadian Accordion. University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press. pp. 8–9. ISBN 9781946160805. I was very familiar with Amédè's music because I would spend hours winding up the crank on my grandmother's Victrola playing her 78's. Also, my father would tell me stories about how he had known Amédè very well and had once hired him to play for a house party in our kitchen before I was born.
^ ^a ^b Ancelet, Barry Jean (July 10, 2012), "Ardoin, Amédé", Oxford Music Online, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.a2223745, retrieved February 17, 2024
^ ^a ^b ^c Biography by Craig Harris, Allmusic.com. Retrieved 24 November 2016
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Ben Sandmel, "Amede Ardoin", in knowlouisiana.org Encyclopedia of Louisiana, edited by David Johnson, Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, April 20, 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2016
^ Snyder, Jared (1995). I'm Never Comin' Back (CD Liner). Amédé Ardoin. El Cerrito: Arhoolie Records. p. 10. 096297700723. Archived from the original on February 4, 2001.
^ Tisserand, Michael (1995). I'm Never Comin' Back (CD Liner). Amédé Ardoin. El Cerrito: Arhoolie Records. pp. 5–7. 096297700723. Archived from the original on February 4, 2001.
^ ^a ^b Smith, Michael William (Winter 2016). "Pockets of Freedom: Amédé Ardoin and the Racial Politics of Louisiana French Music during Jim Crow, 1929-1942". Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association. 57 (1): 70–90 – via JSTOR.
^ Herman Fuselier, "Mr. Ardoin, He Dead", OffBeat Magazine, Vol. 24, Num. 6, June 2011, Page 12.
^ Le Menestrel, Sara (September 2007). "The Color of Music: Social Boundaries and Stereotypes in Southwest Louisiana French Music". Southern Cultures. 13 (3): 87–105. doi:10.1353/scu.2007.0032. ISSN 1534-1488.
^ Savoy, Ann (1984). Cajun Music: a Reflection of a People, Volume I (10th printing ed.). Eunice, La: Bluebird Press (published 2016). p. 65. ISBN 9780930169022.
^ "Life-sized statue honoring slain musician Amédé Ardoin unveiled Sunday in St. Landry Parish". KLFY. March 11, 2018. Retrieved June 20, 2018. A life-size statue honoring slain musician Amédé Ardoin was unveiled Sunday at the St. Landry Parish Visitor Center, located at Interstate 49 exit 23 in Opelousas.